Flights across Scotland, Northern Ireland and northern England were delayed or cancelled after a connectivity fault at Nats’s Prestwick air traffic control centre. Although the problem was fixed by about 10.30am, airlines demanded action and accountability, citing concerns about the resilience of critical national infrastructure after a major outage less than two weeks earlier.

Cirium estimated that at least 200 UK flights would be cancelled by the end of Monday, while Ryanair said more than 25,000 of its passengers were affected and over 140 flights delayed. Nats said the incident was unrelated to the earlier failure, but airlines renewed calls for chief executive Martin Rolfe to resign; the government has commissioned an independent Civil Aviation Authority review.