The crisis over hundreds of cancelled flights today needs is “clearly serious” and “needs to be fully investigated”, Prime Minister Andy Burnham has said.
The cancellation of 200 flights today came is the second problem with UK air traffic control in a fortnight after 2,000 flights were cancelled after air traffic control issues on 8 September.
The chaos has put even more pressure on Martin Rolfe, the chief executive of the National Air Traffic Control Services, who Mr Burnham refused to back.
Asked directly if the head of Nats should be “fired”, the PM refused to answer directly, adding that while further issues “do cause even greater concern… initially this a matter for the Transport secretary” Heidi Alexander.
Mr Burnham was asked by reporters en route to a meeting of the United Nations in New York City “why won’t you fire the head of NATS?” after 200 flights were cancelled today, two weeks after 2,000 were cancelled on 8 September.
He replied: “These are clearly serious issues and they need to be fully investigated, and I know the Transport Secretary is taking these issues extremely seriously.
“Further issues today do cause even greater concern, but initially this is a matter for the Transport Secretary to get to the bottom of what is behind this and why there has been a recurrence.”
Around 150 flights were cancelled on Monday after a technical problem at Nats’ Prestwick site affected airports across Scotland, Northern Ireland and northern England.
Nats said a “connectivity issue” was responsible and stressed it was separate from a software defect at its Swanwick centre which caused around 2,000 flight cancellations earlier this month.
The latest issue has since been resolved, with Nats saying it was operating at “full capacity”, although passengers were warned of further knock-on delays.
EasyJet said the incident “once again calls into question the resilience” of the UK’s air traffic control system, while Wizz Air called for “urgent reform” of Nats.
Ryanair has again called for Nats chief executive Martin Rolfe to resign, saying he had failed to deliver a reliable system or effective back-up.
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The Civil Aviation Authority is carrying out an independent review into the resilience of the UK’s air traffic control system, with its findings due to be published within six months.
The CAA said passengers affected by the latest disruption were unlikely to be entitled to compensation because the technical problem was likely to be considered an “extraordinary circumstance”.
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