UK air traffic control: review of August bank holiday meltdown will consider costs to ‘airlines and airports’

An independent review into the air traffic control (ATC) meltdown over the August bank holiday will consider “airline and airport costs”, the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) said. The regulator will analyse the causes, responses and lessons for the future from the incident which caused hundreds of flights to be cancelled and delayed.

The inquiry will be led by Jeff Halliwell, who has served as a chief executive and non-executive director in roles across the private and public sector. He previously chaired airport slot coordinator Airport Co-ordination Limited as well as the Heathrow Consumer Challenge Board which acts as an independent advisory body.

A final report into the ATC failure with recommendations will be provided to the CAA and the Secretary of State for Transport before publication.

The meltdown on 28 August was caused by a technical glitch at ATC provider National Air Traffic Services (Nats). The chief executive of Nats, Martin Rolfe, said the system shut itself down after receiving highly unusual duplicate "markers" on a flight plan.

He added that the system did "what it was designed to do, i.e. fail safely when it receives data that it can’t process" but it was "a one in 15 million flight plan that we received" causing engineers to take a few hours to work out what they were not familiar with.

The combined cost to airlines in providing refunds, re-bookings, hotel rooms and refreshments to affected passengers has been estimated at around £100 million by industry body the International Air Transport Association (Iata).

Airlines such as Ryanair have already called for Nats to be liable for the cost of disruption it causes, with its boss Michael O’Leary saying it is the “least” it could do.

CAA joint-interim chief executive Rob Bishton said the events over the August bank holiday “had a significant impact on many passengers” and that is why it is launching the independent review. He said it is “clear” that “lessons need to be learnt”.

Mr Bishton added: “We have appointed Jeff Halliwell, who will be supported by two further panel members, to bring a range of expertise to help determine and consider any recommendations to benefit both consumers and the wider aviation industry. I am looking forward to working with industry and passengers to tackle this review to really understand how the incident occurred, how it was managed and identify any recommendations.”