An independent investigation into the August bank holiday air traffic control meltdown, which affected nearly 750,000 passengers, has highlighted a “significant lack of advance planning”.
Flights were grounded across UK airports on August 28 after ATC provider National Air Traffic Services (Nats) suffered a technical glitch while processing flight plans.
An interim report into what happened found there appeared to be no “multi-agency rehearsal for managing an incident of this nature and scale”.
Such rehearsals are “best practice” and “are regularly used in other sectors,” the commission said.
An interim report published by regulator Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) states:
“This is particularly important as some relationships between aviation industry stakeholders appear to be adversarial.
“This is not in the interests of passengers, especially in a crisis situation such as this one.”
It continued: “It is clear that there is a significant lack of proactive planning and coordination for critical events and incidents to mitigate and remediate critical incidents.”
Even though airlines are legally required to provide these, many affected passengers will have to pre-pay for alternative flights, meals, and lodging and submit refund requests to airlines. was there.
The commission said the financial burden on passengers was “very significant”, but noted that the “stress and anxiety” was “at least equally severe”.
Flights were canceled one after another, leaving some travelers stranded overseas for several days.
The inquiry was established by CAA and is led by Geoff Halliwell, who has served as chief executive and non-executive director in roles across the private and public sectors.
After newsletter promotion
Mr Halliwell said: “This interim report demonstrates the Commission’s efforts to date to understand the root causes of the incident; the effectiveness of communications between the State, other parts of the aviation sector, and consumers; and A regulatory system that supports
“In order to make effective recommendations, the committee is considering further research items to build a better understanding of how the aviation system can be improved.”
Rob Bishton, chief executive of CAA, said: “This interim report sets out what went wrong, what went well in response to it and, importantly, how the UK will look to the future. “This will help us understand what actions can be taken to improve our aviation systems.”
Mr Nutt has been contacted by the PA news agency for comment.
