Airline industry argues air traffic control should bear costs of travel chaos

Airlines should not have to bear the costs of Monday’s system failure which has grounded thousands of flights so far this week, an industry body has argued.

Following the blip in National Air Traffic Services’ (NATS) system, which forced controllers to manually input flight data for around three hours on Monday, airlines could have faced a £100 million blow, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) said.

Though not at fault, those made to cancel flights as a result of the error will receive no compensation, the trade body continued, calling for reform from regulator the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA)

“NATS has crucial questions to answer about their responsibility for this fiasco,” the industry body’s director general, Willie Walsh, said.

“The failure of this essential service is unacceptable and brings into question the oversight of the CAA, who are required to review the NATS resilience plan under the terms of its licence.”

Some 2,000 UK flights have been cancelled so far this week as airlines continue to reel from the issue, estimated to have affected around 300,000 passengers.

Though speculation remains over the cause of the fault that sent the UK’s air traffic control system into shutdown, NATS boss Martin Rolfe has hinted incorrect incoming data from a flight may be to blame.

“The UK’s policymakers should take note,” Walsh added.

“Airlines will bear significant sums in care and assistance charges, on top of the costs of disruption to crew and aircraft schedules. But it will cost NATS nothing.”