Friday, several flight to North America started to circle North of Scotland due to a system failure.
July 25, 2025 — A sudden failure in the Reykjavik Flight Information Region (FIR) air traffic control system caused major disruptions to transatlantic air travel on Friday, forcing several flights to circle or divert over the North Atlantic.
Airlines, including major carriers from Europe, were affected by the failure of the Icelandic flight plan system, an area that covers a vast portion of North Atlantic airspace between Greenland and Europe.
Immediate Suspension of Oceanic Crossings
The failure prompted authorities to deny entry to aircraft preparing to enter the FIR, one of the primary gateways for flights between North America and Europe. Pilots en route were instructed to either hold in domestic airspace or divert to alternate flight paths, resulting in a cascade of delays and reroutings.
Virgin Atlantic flight VS105 affected
A flight from London Heathrow to Seattle was forced to turn around before crossing Atlantic and diverted to Manchester.
Consequences for the next hours
The failure has been fixed but the disruption is expected to have lingering effects on schedules for the next 24 hours as aircraft and crew rotations recover. If some flights didn’t return and were able to cross Atlantic, they will have to make a stop to refuel.
