UK outage affected at least 200 flights — BBC News
In the United Kingdom, a technical outage at the air traffic control centre in Prestwick, Ayrshire, caused disruptions at airports in Scotland, Northern Ireland and northern England. As BBC News reports, the UK’s National Air Traffic Services (Nats) said the cause was a connectivity issue. It has already been resolved, and the service is operating at full capacity, although officials warned of possible further delays.
Cancellations and passenger rights
According to analytics company Cirium, as of 13:45 British Summer Time on Monday, at least 200 flights had been cancelled or did not operate. This figure includes 100 flights scheduled to arrive in the United Kingdom and 99 flights due to depart from the country.
easyJet was affected the most, cancelling 47 of its 670 scheduled departures. British Airways cancelled 11 of its 513 scheduled departures. The UK Civil Aviation Authority said passengers whose flights were affected by the incident are unlikely to be entitled to compensation, as the technical issue may be deemed an extraordinary circumstance. However, airlines must provide passengers with appropriate assistance.
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Carriers criticise Nats
Airlines criticised Nats after the second technical outage in less than two weeks. Industry body Airlines UK said passengers and carriers deserve better service. Wizz Air UK managing director Yvonne Moynihan called for urgent reform of Nats and said she did not trust its current leadership.
Jet2 chief executive Steve Heapy called for immediate and accountable action to strengthen air traffic control infrastructure. Ryanair reiterated its demand for the resignation of Nats chief Martin Rolfe, saying the latest outage affected 140 of its flights and 25,000 passengers. British Airways also expressed disappointment over another technical failure.
Nats stressed that the current problem in Prestwick was unrelated to the software outage at the Swanwick centre in Hampshire, which led to the cancellation of 2,000 flights in early September. The Prestwick centre handles air traffic over northern England, Scotland and Northern Ireland — around 42% of all UK air traffic.
