The chief executive of the UK's air traffic control provider, National Air Traffic Services (Nats), has ruled out a cyber-attack as the cause of the system issue that led to extensive flight chaos across the country. Martin Rolfe extended an apology to tens of thousands of affected passengers as disruption entered a second day.
More than 1,300 flights to and from UK airports were cancelled following the technical fault, which began at approximately 1pm on Tuesday and was resolved nearly four hours later. The breakdown initially affected departing flights at major hubs including Heathrow, Gatwick, Manchester, and Stansted, before spreading to incoming flights to much of southern England.
Mr Rolfe has been summoned to speak with the Transport Secretary, Heidi Alexander, who is expected to address Members of Parliament in the Commons during the second reading of the Civil Aviation Bill. The Foreign Secretary, Ed Miliband, also commented on the situation, apologising to passengers and stating that such disruption was "unacceptable" and "cannot happen again". Mr Miliband added that the Transport Secretary would be seeking answers from Nats to ensure airports run "smoothly and properly".
Speaking to BBC Radio 4's Today programme, Mr Rolfe expressed his apologies and acknowledged the widespread frustration. "I'd like to start, as you might expect, by apologising to everyone who’s been impacted by the issue that we had yesterday," he said. "In terms of the recovery, I absolutely understand the frustration. There is nothing we hate more than delaying people, and not allowing them to get to their destination."
He added: "It disrupts airports and disrupts airlines. And we absolutely take accountability and responsibility for that. That is our job. But our job is also to make sure that people stay safe. We never do this lightly."
Addressing the cause of the incident, Mr Rolfe stated: "We will be doing a very, very thorough and full investigation. We have at this point ruled out cyber. We don’t believe it was a cyber-attack." He described the incident as "something different that we’ve never seen in 50 years of operation," and insisted that the issue was resolved as quickly as possible, with all necessary engineers and partners on hand.
When questioned about his position as CEO, Mr Rolfe asserted: "I am the CEO of a piece of critical infrastructure, so it is my job to take responsibility for that. What I absolutely take responsibility for is keeping people safe and delivering the best service we possibly can on a day like today. You will understand my focus is entirely about how we actually resolve this issue, get things back to normal, help our airlines, our airport customers and the travelling public."
Nats, which is half-owned by the government, has faced scrutiny regarding investment in its systems. Mr Rolfe insisted that the organisation has invested sufficiently. "Nats was actually a partial privatisation, 25 years ago, and since that point has had access to funding, we’ve invested way more than a billion [pounds], in technology over that time," he told BBC Radio 4. "Our service has consistently improved. Our safety has consistently improved from a very good base. But all of those things don’t detract from the fact that when these things happen, it is disappointing and upsetting, for which I apologise."
He added: "We are in a critical national infrastructure business where safety is our priority and it runs 24/7. It runs, you know, every single day of the year, every minute of the day, every minute of the night. It is never quiet in UK skies. Inevitably, things do go wrong in complex systems. We never want them to. We always hope they won’t, but we absolutely plan for them to and make sure we handle them properly."
Mr Rolfe also defended the UK's air traffic control reputation internationally. When asked if such widespread issues occur in other countries, he responded: "Absolutely. In fact, I would say the UK has one of the best reputations in the world for its air traffic control service, both from a safety perspective and from a resilience perspective. We do have one of the best systems and one of the best services in the world, and that’s consistently recognised globally."
The incident marks Britain’s third major air traffic control stoppage in just over three years.
Passengers continued to face significant disruption on Wednesday. According to FlightRadar, 246 flights had been cancelled at Heathrow Airport by 6am on Wednesday, with Gatwick passengers facing 33 cancellations. Later on Wednesday, Flightradar24 reported 177 cancellations at Heathrow alone.
Heathrow Airport issued a statement advising passengers: "Following yesterday’s NATS technical issue, flights are operating today, but some disruption may continue as airlines reposition aircraft and crew. Please check your flight status with your airline before travelling to the airport and only travel if your flight is confirmed to be operating." The airport also confirmed it has "extra colleagues across our terminals to support passengers while we work with NATS and airline partners to restore normal operations as quickly as possible."
The disruption has created difficulties for the entire aviation network, and Nats stated on Tuesday evening that it will "take time to recover."
In unrelated market news, Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, saw its price jump to $100.19 a barrel, up more than $2, marking a 2.1% increase. This rise, reaching its highest level since 24 July, follows escalating military strikes in the Middle East.
