Easyjet and British Airways criticise air traffic control operator on fresh flight chaos

Easyjet and British Airways have raised concerns over the resilience of the UK's air traffic control system (Nats) as more disruptions affect British airports. The airlines, along with Jet2, have stated that the recent system failure has raised questions about Nats' capabilities. Today, flights in Scotland, Northern Ireland, and northern England are experiencing delays, with Edinburgh, Belfast, and Manchester airports registering the delays. Passengers are advised to check with their airlines for updates.

Nats clarified that today's issue is unrelated to a software fault that occurred earlier this month, which led to chaos across the UK's airports. However, Easyjet remains dissatisfied with Nats, warning that the airline faces further delays due to the ongoing issues. Easyjet's CEO, Alexei Malashkevich, stated that the resilience of Nats' systems needs to be improved, and firm actions are required to prevent these repeated failures.

Jet2 echoed similar sentiments, urging for action, accountability, and proper resilience from Nats. The airline's CEO, Steve Heapy, emphasized that it is unacceptable for critical national infrastructure to keep letting customers down, especially after Nats published a report into its latest major failure. Heapy added that customers and airlines are bearing the brunt of the disruption, and the airline will be sending another bill to Nats for the costs incurred.

British Airways also expressed disappointment, stating that another technical fault with Nats means some customers are likely to experience travel disruptions today. The airline is doing everything it can to minimize the impact on customers and keep them updated.

The latest outage adds to the pressure on Nats, which has faced criticism from airline executives who have called for Nats' boss, Martin Rolfe, to resign. Nats claimed that it had introduced mitigation plans to prevent similar issues in its earlier incident report. However, Ryanair has dismissed these claims, stating that Nats failed to deliver a reliable system or an effective backup, as evidenced by the recurring delays.

Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander confirmed that an IT issue affecting Nats has been resolved, and systems are resuming. However, the repeated failures have left passengers and airlines frustrated, with Alexander acknowledging the deep frustration caused by the previous issue.