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UK orders independent review after Nats air traffic control outage
The Transport Secretary said the incident was avoidable and asked both the aviation watchdog and the Civil Aviation Authority to produce separate reviews, with updates in one week and six months.
The UK Transport Secretary, Heidi Alexander, said a technical failure in the country’s air traffic control system that triggered widespread flight disruption was avoidable, and she has ordered an independent investigation.
Alexander told lawmakers she commissioned the aviation watchdog to investigate the system operated by Nats, which went down for four hours on Tuesday, and she said more than 2,000 flights were cancelled as disruption carried into a second day. Nats is 49% owned by the government, according to BBC Business.
The government has separately asked Nats to investigate the incident and report back in one week, while Alexander also requested that the Civil Aviation Authority conduct its own independent review and provide an update in six months. Airlines UK said it has serious concerns, calling the failure the third major system outage in three years and arguing that airlines end up bearing costs while responsible organizations face little or no financial consequence.
BBC Business reported that Nats first confirmed a technical issue at 13:46 BST on Tuesday, traced the problem to its flight processing system, and said the glitch occurred at its Swanwick Centre in Hampshire, one of its two air traffic control centres. The outlet also noted that Nats previously faced disruption in 2023 after a computer shutdown over the August bank holiday weekend affected hundreds of thousands of passengers.