Heidi Alexander

UK Transport Secretary

Appears in 1 story

Office: Secretary of State for Transport

Born: April 17, 1975, Swindon

Party: Labour Party

Education: Durham University, Lawn Manor Academy

Previous offices: member of the 55th Parliament of the United Kingdom, member of the 56th Parliament of the United Kingdom

Last updated Nov 2, 2026

Stories

NATS flight system failure grounds hundreds of flights at UK airports

Built World

As of September 2026: Monitoring the incident; confirmed fix in progress

A mid-afternoon technical failure in NATS' flight processing system grounded departures across the UK on September 8. Heathrow, Gatwick, Manchester and ten other airports halted or restricted flights, leaving hundreds of planes cancelled and tens of thousands of passengers stranded.

Updated Sep 9