Monday’s air traffic control system failure will likely be costing airlines millions of pounds, industry members have warned, as focus turns to the causes of the chaos.
After some 1,500 flights faced cancellations on Monday on the back of the National Air Traffic Services (Nats) system failure, carriers have faced pressure to act swiftly in helping the roughly 300,000 passengers affected.
Ryanair Holdings PLC (LSE:RYA) and easyJet PLC have since launched repatriation flights to rescue those strewn across Europe for instance, though two days after the issue, disruption continues.
While there is still some disruption due to Monday's air traffic restrictions, most passengers will be able to travel as planned through Heathrow today. Passengers are reminded to check with their airline for the latest info about their flight.
— Heathrow Airport (@HeathrowAirport) August 30, 2023
International Air Transport Association director general Willie Walsh warned on Wednesday that airlines have likely faced huge financial hits meanwhile, as questions build over how such a failure could happen.
“We’re looking at costs in the tens of millions probably at this stage,” he said on BBC Radio.
“[It's] too early to estimate fully, but I would imagine at an industry level we’ll be getting close to £100 million of additional costs that airlines have encountered as a result.”
Walsh also argued that Nats should be made to pay for the disruption, which ultimately saw air traffic controllers resort to inputting flight data manually for several hours on Monday.
“The people responsible for the cancellations should bear the costs […] this is a failure that shouldn’t have happened,” he added.
Consumer group Which? explained it was indeed the airlines that are responsible for ensuring passengers are kept up to date and accommodated if their flights are cancelled though.
“Airlines have a duty of care to passengers and are required to provide food and drink after two to three hours of delay,” the consumer group said.
However, whether passengers are granted compensation is another matter, it warned.
“The air traffic control failure took place on 28 August,” the group continued.
“Any disruption on that day and the following days will be classed as extraordinary circumstances, which means no compensation is due.
“However, if your flight several days or a week later is cancelled or delayed and the airline claims it’s a result of the air traffic control system failure, you may be due compensation.”
A report on the system failure is due from Nats to the UK regulator the Civil Aviation Authority “in the coming days”, according to transport secretary Mark Harper.
Given speculation that it was incorrect information from a French airline that sent the system into shutdown and firm denial that the issue was caused by a cyberattack, the true cause remains to be seen.
An update from our CEO, Martin Rolfe on yesterday's air traffic control outage that we know continues to impact passengers around the world. pic.twitter.com/GtLeNE6rKf
— NATS (@NATS) August 29, 2023
“Airlines are clear about their responsibilities to passengers and are working with the rest of the industry to safely get them to their destinations,” Harper added.
“The aviation minister Charlotte Vere and I are being kept up to date on the latest developments and will be reviewing the interim report from NATS.”