Jet2 has demanded urgent action to strengthen the resilience of the UK’s air traffic control infrastructure following “yet another” major issue. A National Air Traffic Services (NATS) issue on Monday led to delays and disruption for airlines and customers. NATS is the UK’s leading provider of air traffic control services. It provides air traffic navigation services to aircraft flying through UK-controlled airspace and at several UK and international airports.
This is the second technical problem in just two weeks that has caused major disruption to flights across the UK. NATS says the issue on Monday had “nothing to do” with a software defect that led to 2,000 flights being cancelled earlier this month. A NATS spokesperson said it had been “working with airports and airlines to safely lift air traffic regulations as quickly as we can to minimise any further disruption”, and apologised for the disruption. They explained the problem was “unrelated to the issue two weeks ago.” Aviation analytics company Cirium reported at least 200 flights had been cancelled due to the “connectivity issue.”
Jet2 said the latest disruption is “once again the result for customers wanting to enjoy their well-deserved holidays” and the delays are “no fault of their own.” The airline said that, although its teams worked tirelessly to look after customers and restore operations after the issue on September 8, like other airlines, it incurred high costs due to that failure. Jet2 said it will be seeking compensation from NATS for this.
Jet2 said “the repeat nature of these incidents shows that urgent and accountable action is needed now rather than reports and apologies.”
Steve Heapy, CEO of Jet2, said: “Once again, airlines and customers are being disrupted by yet another NATS issue, and one has to ask: how many more failures do customers and airlines have to deal with? This morning’s disruption comes days after NATS published a report into its latest major failure, and it is simply not good enough for this critical national infrastructure to keep letting customers down.
“Customers work hard to look forward to their holidays, and airlines work hard to deliver those holidays. They should not be repeatedly exposed to delays and disruption because the UK’s air traffic control systems cannot be relied upon.
“There have been too many incidents, too many reports and too many promises of lessons being learned. What customers and airlines need now is action, accountability and proper resilience, and we need it urgently.”
He added: “Our teams will do what they always do in these situations, which is continue to do everything possible to look after customers and recover operations, but it is unacceptable that airlines and customers are left to pick up the pieces when these recurring failures happen. Make no mistake, we are counting the cost of this disruption and will be sending another bill to NATS.”
Jet2 said the airline is calling for NATS and the Government to set out the immediate steps being taken to improve system resilience and reduce the risk of further failures so that “airlines and customers are not repeatedly left carrying the cost and consequences of disruption outside their control.”
This story originally appeared on Express.co.uk
