Britain’s aviation regulator will investigate a software failure at air traffic control provider NATS that caused widespread flight disruption earlier this month and stranded hundreds of thousands of passengers.
The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) said on Friday, September 25, that its independent review will examine the causes of the failure, its impact on passengers and airlines, and whether additional measures are needed to strengthen the resilience of the country’s air traffic control systems.
The disruption on September 8 affected major airports including Heathrow, Gatwick, Manchester and Stansted, with airlines cancelling or delaying flights as restrictions were imposed following the technical failure.
The CAA will also assess NATS’ plans to renew and modernise critical operational systems and examine whether recommendations from previous incidents have been properly implemented. The review is particularly significant because it is the second major NATS systems failure to come under regulatory scrutiny within three years.
An initial report is expected by the end of January 2027, while the final report is due by March 8, 2027.
The investigation comes after another, separate NATS connectivity failure on September 21 caused further delays at airports in northern England, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
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