Rebel Wilson documents Heathrow airport meltdown with sarcastic video before making swift exit

One of the few stars facing the same troubles as many others

Among them were Rebel Wilson, Elizabeth Hurley, Benedict Cumberbatch and Olivia Attwood, as they’re also facing delays in airports across the nation.

So far on Wednesday (9 September), up to 250,000 travellers have been affected across airports including Heathrow, Gatwick, Manchester and Stansted.

The disruption occurred due to an air traffic control (ATC) system failure.

Australian actress Rebel Wilson looked exhausted as she shared videos while walking through the terminal of people stuck in the airport.

The 46-year-old, rather than attempting to leave the country, suggested she had abandoned her original plans as she told fans she was “escaping” the airport.

Sarcastically, she captioned one video “Heathrow awesomeness”, as she panned around the luggage collection area to reveal crowds of people in a similar situation.

The other, a selfie video captioned "Escape from Heathrow airport", showed her making it through UK border control.

New delays were confirmed this morning

Following a system issue which affected air traffic control at 15 airports across the UK, this morning more than 250 flights have been cancelled to and from UK airports.

At major UK airports, flights have been disrupted due to a technical fault at air traffic control provider NATS, Sky News reported, and people travelling to and from the UK will feel the knock-on effects for hours to come.

The chaos in UK airports continues also on Wednesday (9 September), as flight-monitoring website Flightradar24 showed that yesterday there were cancellations in roughly 1,300 flights.

A Delta airways plane on the runway at Heathrow Airport on September 08, 2026 in London. Credit: Getty Images

The airports most affected by cancellations

Wednesday’s cancellations have come primarily at Heathrow Airport, which by 6am has seen 246 cancelled flights.

There were 16 flights cancelled between 7am and 8am at Heathrow and there could yet be knock-on effects elsewhere.

Meanwhile, Gatwick has faced 33 cancellations, while Manchester Airport is showing two cancelled flights afer 7am (to Heathrow and to Paris).

Between 7am and 8am, in Glasgow, flights to Heathrow, Luton and Gatwick have been cancelled.

Speaking to Sky News, travel journalist and expert Simon Calder said the knock-on effects today are “going to be horrible”.

“There are going to be dozens of cancellations in the morning of flights coming into Heathrow because, basically, the flights didn't go out tonight,” Calder said.

Pedestrians cross a bridge at terminal 3 at Heathrow Airport on September 08, 2026 in London. Credit: Getty Images

How air traffic control failure left UK airports in chaos

The issues at the airports were first reported early on Tuesday afternoon (8 September) as aviation news site Air Live said that all flights from the Heathrow and Gatwick had been stopped following a technical failure in air traffic control (ATC) equipment.

Meanwhile, flight tracking data appeared to show the same issue at a number of other London airports.

Air Live report that a ground stop for departures was implemented at 12.48pm BST after the system failure disrupted ATC communications and equipement.

It said that airport management confirmed the temporary halt of ou