# Nats boss to meet UK transport secretary as second day of flight chaos takes cancellations past 1,300 – business live

- URL: https://talkfuse.com/story/nats-boss-to-meet-uk-transport-secretary-as-second-day-of-flight-chaos-takes-cancellations-past-1300-business-live/
- Published: 2026-09-09T17:37:26+00:00
- Updated: 2026-09-09T23:43:30+00:00
- Original publisher: The Guardian (publisher lean: Left)
- Original article: https://www.theguardian.com/business/live/2026/sep/09/nats-boss-to-meet-uk-transport-secretary-as-second-day-of-flight-chaos-takes-cancelllations-past-1300-business-live
- Topics: Business, Culture, Markets, Travel, UK, World

## Key points

- Nats flight disruption hit 1,300+ cancellations over two days
- Nats boss to meet transport secretary Heidi Alexander over chaos
- Petrol and diesel prices jumped sharply on rising global oil costs

## Summary

The Guardian's live business coverage tracked two separate stories converging on UK household costs: aviation disruption caused by air traffic control provider Nats, and a sharp rise in petrol and diesel prices. The Nats disruption ran into a second day, with cancellations passing 1,300 flights and chief executive Martin Rolfe due to meet transport secretary Heidi Alexander to address the fallout. Alongside this, motoring groups reported that fuel costs had jumped sharply, driven by surging oil prices linked to the US-Iran conflict, adding fresh pressure on households already grappling with the cost of living.

The AA said petrol had risen 4.4p a litre since the previous week's bank holiday to average 166.2p, with diesel up 4.1p to 187.7p, while the RAC recorded weekly increases of around 5p a litre for both fuels, taking unleaded to 167.17p and diesel to 188.63p — adding roughly £2.75 to the cost of filling a family car. Both organisations pointed to oil averaging $96 a barrel over the past week as the main driver, with the RAC's Rod Dennis warning of no imminent relief and calling for the chancellor to hold off planned fuel duty rises; the AA also highlighted a persistent 6p-a-litre gap between mainland UK and Northern Ireland pump prices, despite many stations able to match the cheaper rates.

## Coverage

- [The Guardian: Nats boss to meet UK transport secretary as second day of flight chaos takes cancellations past 1,300 – business live](https://www.theguardian.com/business/live/2026/sep/09/nats-boss-to-meet-uk-transport-secretary-as-second-day-of-flight-chaos-takes-cancelllations-past-1300-business-live)
- [Daily Mail: Flight chaos after tech failure is expected to last for DAYS after more than 1,000 jets were grounded: Calls for air traffic boss to quit grow as he is set to meet Transport Secretary this morning](https://www.dailymail.com/news/article-16116057/Flight-chaos-tech-failure-expected-DAYS-1-000-jets-grounded-Calls-air-traffic-boss-quit-grow-set-meet-Transport-Secretary-morning.html?ns_mchannel=rss&ns_campaign=1490&ito=1490)
- [Daily Mail: Under-fire Nats boss 'rules out' cyber attack as cause of air traffic control meltdown - and says there will be 'thorough investigation' into issue that sparked flight chaos](https://www.dailymail.com/news/article-16116673/Nats-boss-rules-cyber-attack-cause-air-traffic-control-meltdown.html?ns_mchannel=rss&ns_campaign=1490&ito=1490)
- [Daily Mail: Hundreds more flights grounded on second day of air traffic control chaos: Ryanair and Wizz Air boss demand NATS boss resigns - as it emerges latest meltdown 'was repeat of issue from 2023 outage'](https://www.dailymail.com/news/article-16116543/Hundreds-flights-cancelled-passengers-travel-chaos.html?ns_mchannel=rss&ns_campaign=1490&ito=1490)
- [The Guardian: Air traffic control boss given a week to report after UK flight chaos causes 2,000 cancellations](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/sep/09/uk-flight-cancellations-nats-martin-rolfe-heidi-alexander)

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Summarised by TalkFuse (https://talkfuse.com/). Quote the original publisher for the reporting and link this page for the summary and discussion.