Thousands of passengers have faced fresh disruption at Birmingham Airport after flights were grounded and diverted for the second time in just four days, following an air traffic control failure linked to a wider power issue.
The latest incident has raised serious questions about resilience at one of the UK’s busiest regional airports, coming only days after snow forced a runway shutdown.
What caused the latest disruption at Birmingham Airport?
Arrivals at Birmingham Airport were halted late on Sunday night after an air traffic control radar failure, believed to be triggered by a fire at a National Grid site.
The last flight to land was a Jet2 service from Faro, which touched down at 8.42pm on Sunday. After that, all inbound flights were either diverted to other UK airports or forced to turn back mid-journey.
Birmingham Airport spokesperson: “Arrivals were temporarily suspended due to an external air traffic control issue. We worked closely with airlines and air traffic services to resume operations as safely and quickly as possible.”
⚠️Birmingham Airport is closed
Due to a radar failure Birmingham Airport has closed, all arriving aircraft will be diverting. pic.twitter.com/5K7UicWGFv
— Aviation News UK 🇬🇧 (@BritAviaNews) January 11, 2026
The first aircraft to land after the shutdown was a Ryanair flight from Tenerife, which arrived just after 12.30am on Monday.
How many flights were affected, and where were planes diverted?
A total of 12 aircraft were diverted during the closure, with several UK airports stepping in to take stranded passengers.
Liverpool John Lennon Airport
- Jet2 from Gran Canaria
- Ryanair from Dublin
- Ryanair from Murcia
East Midlands Airport
- easyJet from Marrakech
- Ryanair from Malaga
- TUI from Tenerife
Other flights were diverted to Bristol, Manchester, and London Stansted. Most aircraft were eventually repositioned to Birmingham in the early hours of Monday.
Which flights were cancelled on Monday morning?
Because planes and crews were out of position overnight, three outbound flights were cancelled on Monday morning:
- Birmingham to Amsterdam (KLM)
- Birmingham to Frankfurt (Lufthansa)
- Birmingham to Paris Charles de Gaulle (Air France)
Several inbound European flights were also unable to complete their journeys on Sunday night:
- An Air France flight from Paris turned back near the Channel coast
- A KLM flight from Amsterdam returned after reaching north London
- A Lufthansa service from Frankfurt never departed
Why is this the second major disruption in four days?
The air traffic control failure comes just days after heavy snow closed Birmingham Airport’s runway late Thursday into Friday morning.
That weather-related shutdown led to dozens of cancellations, delays, and diversions, leaving many passengers sleeping in terminals or scrambling for last-minute hotels.
The back-to-back incidents have sparked frustration among travellers and renewed scrutiny over how airports manage unexpected emergencies.
Are passengers entitled to compensation?
Under UK air passenger rights rules, the situation is mixed.
What passengers are entitled to:
- Re-routing on the next available flight, even with another airline
- Meals, refreshments, and hotel accommodation if stranded overnight
What passengers will not receive:
Cash compensation for delays over three hours, as the disruption was caused by extraordinary circumstances outside airline control (air traffic control failure)
This mirrors previous UK cases, including Heathrow Airport’s near-total closure in March 2021 after a fire at an electricity substation disrupted power supplies.
Is this a wider UK aviation resilience issue?
While rare, incidents involving power failures and air traffic control are not unheard of in the UK. Aviation experts note that airports rely heavily on national infrastructure, meaning failures outside airport control can still bring operations to a halt.
Aviation analyst (industry commentary): “Airports can have strong internal systems, but when national grid or air traffic networks fail, the impact is immediate and widespread.”
