Politics
Nearly 2,000 flights have been cancelled in two days as the aviation crisis in the UK continues to worsen.
Nearly 2,000 flights have been cancelled in two days as the aviation crisis in the UK continues to worsen. Flight operations at major airports across the UK, including airports in London, have not yet fully returned to normal because of a technical problem with the air traffic control system. Thousands of passengers have been affected. According to an aviation analytics firm, more than 1,750 flights were cancelled yesterday, while another 153 flights have been cancelled today. Reports say that the failure in the air traffic control system severely affected air traffic across UK airspace for several hours. Airports later began restoring flights, but it may take more time for normal operations to resume completely.
British Transport Minister Heidi Alexander has summoned Martin Rolfe, the chief executive of NATS, the UK’s air traffic control provider, to ask about the cause of the system failure and the organization's performance. Heidi Alexander said that she wanted assurances that lessons would be learned from the incident and that the technology and infrastructure supporting the aviation system would remain reliable. NATS chief executive Martin Rolfe apologized to affected passengers and said that the failure was not caused by a cyberattack. He accepted responsibility for the disruption and said that passenger safety was the top priority.
Heathrow Airport has advised passengers to check the latest status of their flights with their airlines before leaving for the airport. Gatwick Airport has given passengers the same advice. According to reports, Ryanair cancelled more than 200 flights on Tuesday, affecting around 150,000 passengers. British Airways also cancelled around 100 flights or diverted them to alternative airports. The UK has experienced similar crises caused by failures in the air traffic control system in the past. These incidents have caused major financial losses for airlines.
