Independent inquiry into air traffic control failure announced
Following a technical failure at Swanwick (above) passengers experienced flight disruption around the country on Friday with delays and some flight cancellations at Heathrow on Saturday.
The system has been restored but it will was taking time for operations across the UK to fully recover so passengers had to contact their airline for the status of their flight.
NATS apologised for the delays and inconvenience caused and said they are investigating the cause of the fault but can confirm that contrary to some reports, it was not due to a power outage. Further information will be released as it becomes available but reports suggest it may have been caused by a line of code in one of the computer systems at Swanwick (the UK's national air traffic control centre).
The CAA will, in consultation with NATS, appoint an independent chair of the panel which will consist of NATS technical experts, a board member from the CAA and independent experts on information technology, air traffic management and operational resilience.
The full terms of reference will be published following consultation with interested parties including airlines and consumer groups but it is expected that the review will cover, as a minimum:
1. The root causes of the incident on Friday
2. NATS’ handling of that incident to minimise disruption without compromising safety
3. Whether the lessons identified in the review of the disruption in December 2013 have been fully embedded and were effective in this most recent incident
4. A review of the levels of resilience and service that should be expected across the air traffic network taking into account relevant international benchmarks
5. Further measures to avoid technology or process failures in this critical national infrastructure and reduce the impact of any unavoidable disruption
