OMM Redaksiyası
Airlines have criticised the UK's air traffic control system after a second technical problem in less than two weeks caused significant disruption to flights, according to the BBC.
The latest incident occurred at the National Air Traffic Services (Nats) control centre in Prestwick, Ayrshire. It affected airports across Scotland, Northern Ireland and northern England, delaying dozens of flights.
At least 200 flights cancelled or disrupted
Nats said a “connectivity issue” was responsible and stressed that it was unrelated to a separate software defect at Swanwick that led to the cancellation of about 2,000 flights earlier in September.
The underlying problem at Prestwick has been resolved, Nats said, adding that the centre was operating at “full capacity”. However, officials warned that delays could continue to have knock-on effects.
According to aviation analytics company Cirium, at least 200 flights had been cancelled or did not operate by 13:45 BST on Monday. The figure included 100 flights scheduled to arrive in the UK and 99 due to depart.
“EasyJet” was the worst-affected airline, with 47 of its 670 scheduled departures cancelled. “British Airways” reported 11 cancellations from 513 scheduled departures. “Ryanair” said the disruption affected 140 of its flights and 25,000 passengers.
Airlines demand reform
“EasyJet” said the incident “once again calls into question the resilience” of the UK air traffic control system. “Wizz Air” said there was a “national confidence crisis” in Nats and called for urgent reform.
Yvonne Moynihan, managing director of “Wizz Air” UK, said she lacked confidence in Nats’ current leadership. Asked by BBC Radio 4’s World at One programme whether Nats chief Martin Rolfe should resign, she said the organisation’s leadership and board needed to be examined.
“Jet2” chief executive Steve Heapy called for “urgent and accountable” action to strengthen the UK’s air traffic control infrastructure. “Ryanair” repeated its call for Rolfe to resign, saying he had failed to provide either a reliable system or an effective back-up.
“British Airways” described “yet another technical fault with Nats” as disappointing. Airlines UK said passengers and airlines “deserve better” after what it called another Nats failure.
Passengers unlikely to receive compensation
The UK Civil Aviation Authority said passengers whose flights were disrupted were unlikely to be entitled to compensation. It said the incident was likely to qualify as an “extraordinary circumstance” under passenger rights rules.
Airlines are still expected to look after affected passengers, but compensation is unlikely to be available for delays or cancellations directly caused by the technical problem.
A Nats spokesperson apologised for the disruption, saying technology could fail but that the organisation’s responsibility was to minimise its impact. The spokesperson added that safety remained its first priority and urged passengers to check their flight status with their airline.
Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander described the disruption as “deeply frustrating” for passengers.
The Prestwick centre manages traffic over Scotland, northern England and Northern Ireland, handling about 42% of the UK’s air traffic. Nats’ other main centre, at Swanwick in Hampshire, manages airspace in the south, including approaches to “Heathrow” and “Gatwick”.
The Swanwick failure earlier this month affected hundreds of thousands of passengers and caused severe disruption to international and long-haul travel. Nats said last week that the software defect occurred “in the space of a millisecond” and caused the system to generate corrupted data.
The latest incident is expected to increase pressure on Martin Rolfe, who said last week that he would not resign. He described the earlier software defect as “very, very obscure” and said his role was to ensure such failures happened as infrequently as possible.
