Inquiry into air traffic control failure calls for earlier notice of disruption

An inquiry into the 2023 August bank holiday air traffic control (ATC) meltdown has recommended that National Air Traffic Services (Nats) gives earlier notice to airlines and airports of possible disruption.

The organisation should also review its contingency arrangements, the final report said.

More than 700,000 passengers were disrupted when flights were grounded at UK airports on August 28 last year after Nats suffered a technical glitch while processing a flight plan.

A total of 34 recommendations were made by the inquiry, which was set up by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) and led by Jeff Halliwell, who has served as a chief executive and non-executive director in roles across the private and public sector.

The incident on 28 August 2023 represented a major failure on the part of the air traffic control system

Airlines and airports should review the “adequacy” of the support available to passengers during significant disruption, particularly those who are vulnerable or travelling with children, according to the document.

Other recommendations include the CAA reviewing how Nats’ work is incentivised, and the Government considering bringing the CAA’s consumer enforcement powers into line with regulators in other sectors.

Mr Halliwell said: “The incident on 28 August 2023 represented a major failure on the part of the air traffic control system, which caused considerable distress to over 700,000 aviation passengers, and resulted in substantial costs to airlines and airports.

“Our report sets out a number of recommendations aimed at improving Nats’ operations and, even more importantly, ways in which the aviation sector as a whole should work together more closely to ensure that, if something like this does ever happen again, passengers are better looked after.”

It is vital that we learn the lessons from any major incident such as this

Transport Secretary Louise Haigh said: “The Nats IT failure last year was an unprecedented event that we all hope never happens again, so I welcome the final report and its recommendations to strengthen the sector and restore passenger confidence.

“I’ve said before that I will be the passenger-in-chief and my priority is to ensure all passengers feel confident when they fly.

“That’s why my department will look to introduce reforms, when we can, to provide air travellers with the highest level of protection possible.”

CAA chief executive Rob Bishton said: “This final report gets to the heart of what went wrong in August 2023 and sets out a number of recommendations that are sector-wide in their scope.

“It is vital that we learn the lessons from any major incident such as this.”