The UK's main air traffic control provider, with control centres at Swanwick in Hampshire and Prestwick in Ayrshire and routes in for trainee controllers, engineers and graduates.
NATS provides air traffic control in the UK. Its controllers guide aircraft through UK skies and over the North Atlantic, handling more than 2.5 million flights in a typical year. It also runs air traffic services at 15 UK airports, including Heathrow, Gatwick, Manchester, Glasgow and Aberdeen, and provides services to customers in parts of Europe, the Middle East and Asia. NATS describes about 4,900 people across air traffic controllers, air traffic service assistants, engineers and other specialists.
NATS states its purpose as "Advancing aviation, keeping the skies safe". Its values are Courageous, One team, Respectful and Safe, and the company says safety "is and will continue to be, our core value". Inclusion is a stated priority, summed up as "Brilliantly different, under the same sky". These are NATS's own words.
The company traces its roots to 1962 and became NATS in 1972. Its main bases are the two air traffic control centres: Swanwick in Hampshire, which looks after the upper airspace over England and Wales and the busy skies around London, and Prestwick in Ayrshire, which looks after Scotland, Northern Ireland and North Atlantic traffic. Its head office is in Whiteley, Hampshire, and it also has a central London office. NATS controllers work at airport towers across the UK too.
NATS says it has six employee networks (Ability, globeAll, Faith, SkyPride, Women's and Young Professionals), offers workplace adjustments without needing a formal diagnosis, and has agile working for non-operational teams. An engineering apprentice, Craig Brown, who joined at Prestwick in September 2025 as one of five "Prestwick Pioneers", calls the team "extremely welcoming" and the work "quite impactful". Treat these as company and staff statements rather than independent evidence.
There are several entry routes. The Trainee Air Traffic Controller programme asked in 2024 for five GCSEs at grade 4 (or Scottish National 5 at A to C) including English and maths, with an aptitude-led selection, a trainee salary of £21,330 and about 12 months of simulator and theory training before airport or centre placement (2024 figures, check current). A bursary was introduced to help applicants on lower incomes or with caring duties with travel and medical costs. Engineering apprenticeships and an Airport Engineering Technician scheme are listed for Swanwick, Prestwick and airports; NATS's page says apprenticeship recruitment is due to reopen in 2026. NATS also lists graduate and industrial placement roles, but we did not read their details.
Website: www.nats.aero
PURPOSE helps school and university students explore 62 sectors and over 1,000 entry-level careers in the UK, then connects them directly with employers.
Explore PURPOSE