MOD denies claims military jet caused air traffic control glitch that threw UK airports into chaos
MOD denies claims a military jet threw UK airports into chaos
The Ministry of Defence has denied claims that a military jet was behind a air traffic control glitch that resulted in thousands of flights being cancelled.
More than 2,000 flights arriving or departing the UK were cancelled on Tuesday, September 8, due to a technical issue at National Air Traffic Services (Nats). Disruption, which impacted a number of UK airports, continued into Wednesday.
The Financial Times reported on Friday that it had been told by four sources that a flight plan submitted by a military aircraft triggered events that led to the outage.
It claimed the entry caused a glitch within the wider air traffic control system that took hours to restart.
“Because it’s subject to a live Nats investigation, which is expected to conclude next week, it would be inappropriate for us to comment any further while that investigation is ongoing.”
A Nats spokesperson said: “We are continuing to investigate the underlying cause. It would be wrong to speculate while that work continues, and a full technical investigation will follow.”
The disruption has prompted calls for Martin Rolfe, chief executive of Nats, to resign, with budget airline Ryanair boss, Michael O’Leary, branding Mr Rolfe’s position “untenable” earlier this week.
A Wizz Air spokesperson said the airline is “extremely disappointed” that a Nats technical failure caused the widespread disruption, adding: “Nats is simply not fit for purpose in its current form.”
Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander told MPs on Wednesday afternoon that she did not believe the air traffic control issue was “unavoidable”.