NATS Holdings, formally National Air Traffic Services and commonly referred to as NATS, provides en-route air traffic control services to flights within the UK flight information regions and the Shanwick Oceanic Control Area.

[citation needed] Until its establishment as a separate company, the leadership of NATS (the "Controller") alternated between civil and military, the latter normally a serving air marshal.

[citation needed] In 1992 it was recognised by the Government that as a service provider, NATS should be operated at some distance from its regulator, the CAA.

However, due to the decline in air traffic following the 11 September 2001 attacks an additional investment of £130m was required, £65m coming each from the UK government and BAA, which received 4% of the company in return.

NATS helps the military around the world share airspace with civil aviation for commercial, political and environmental reasons.

Marshall seeks to ensure a safe, efficient and sustainable air traffic management (ATM) service for the UK armed forces.

Aquila is tasked to deliver a system-wide modernisation and rationalisation of the current fragmented system, and establish a flexible ATM service which is future-proofed to meet potential changes in the regulatory and technological landscape.

FerroNATS was awarded the contract to provide services at these airports through a competitive tender process run by the Spanish aviation authority, AENA.

The Alliance includes the ANSPs of Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Ireland, Latvia, Norway, Sweden and the UK.

The Borealis Alliance is currently working on a major programme to deliver free route airspace across the whole of Northern Europe by 2020.

From 15 to 20 April 2010, under internationally agreed guidelines that require a zero tolerance approach to ash, NATS placed a series of restrictions on aircraft operating in UK controlled airspace owing to the potential dangers caused by a volcanic ash cloud from the eruption of Icelandic volcano Eyjafjallajökull,[20] in cooperation with the Met Office, CAA and UK government.

At 15:30 an announcement was made by Eurocontrol that "There has been a failure of the flight data computer server at London ACC [area control centre]."