Etihad flight cancellation strands London passengers as UK air traffic gridlock persists
Etihad Airways cancelled one flight and delayed two others connecting London Heathrow and Abu Dhabi on Wednesday, September 9, 2026, as a technical fault in the United Kingdom’s air traffic control system cascaded across major aviation hubs. Affected travelers face rolling schedule adjustments and diversions as the Abu Dhabi-based carrier works to manage the operational fallout.
Flight EY64 from Heathrow to Abu Dhabi has been cancelled outright, while the corresponding EY66 service is rescheduled to depart at 21:30. A third rotation, EY68, faces an extended delay after its inbound aircraft, operating as flight EY67, was diverted to Paris Charles de Gaulle.
The disruption stems from a technical fault within the flight-processing system operated by National Air Traffic Services (Nats), which forced restrictions across Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted, Manchester, and other British airports on Tuesday. Although Nats reported implementing a fix late Tuesday, aviation authorities warned that network recovery would take longer than initially projected. More than 1,300 flights were grounded nationwide on Tuesday, followed by another 177 cancellations confirmed for Wednesday, predominantly at Heathrow.
Etihad stated that the situation remains dynamic and further changes are possible. Airline teams are coordinating hotel accommodations and rebooking options for stranded passengers, directing customers to check flight statuses online and update contact details through the Manage Your Booking portal. Regional competitors including Emirates and Qatar Airways also issued travel advisories regarding UK routes, while low-cost operators such as Ryanair and Wizz Air criticized Nats over the operational scale of the disruption.
The incident mirrors a major network-wide Nats failure in August 2023 that grounded flights for hours across the UK and created a backlog stretching into the bank holiday weekend.
