Flight chaos caused by software defect in space of a millisecond, report says
The failure led to more than 2,000 flights being cancelled and hundreds of thousands of passengers affected.
An air traffic control system failure at the UK's national air traffic service (Nats) caused widespread travel disruption earlier this month, according to a report. The glitch led to over 2,000 flights being cancelled and hundreds of thousands of passengers impacted, with some forced to sleep on airport floors or stranded abroad.
The incident affected flights to and from the UK's major airports, such as Heathrow, Gatwick, Luton, and Glasgow. Questions arose about Nats' system resilience, and some airlines criticized Nats' CEO Martin Rolfe's handling of the situation. Passengers expressed frustration over the level of support they received from airlines.
Initially, the government ruled out a cyber attack, and the Ministry of Defence later denied a report suggesting a military aircraft was responsible. In an initial report, Nats identified the defect as occurring within a single millisecond in the system responsible for managing UK airspace, resulting in corrupted data being produced.
CEO Martin Rolfe apologized sincerely to those affected, emphasizing that their primary role is to keep skies safe and ensure prompt and delay-free travel. Nats stressed that safety remained uncompromised throughout the incident.
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