UK Air Traffic Control Failure Disrupts 700,000 Passengers in 2023
The UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has published its final report on the August 2023 air traffic control failure that caused widespread disruptions for 700,000 passengers during the Summer Bank Holiday. The fault occurred on August 28, 2023, when the UK’s air traffic control system, operated by NATS, failed to process essential flight data, resulting in hundreds of cancellations and delays.
According to the CAA’s report, published on November 14, 2024, the issue began when the flight planning system, FPRSA-R, received an anomalous set of data from a French Bee flight. This data, originating from a transatlantic flight departing Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) for Paris Orly Airport (ORY), contained a unique combination of six attributes that the system could not process, raising a “critical exception.”
As a result, from 08:32 on August 28, automatic flight plan processing stopped, forcing air traffic controllers to switch to manual entry, significantly reducing the capacity for managing aircraft in UK airspace. NATS staff at the Swanage office attempted to resolve the issue, but by 10:12, the situation worsened, and air traffic management capabilities were further limited. A key engineer working remotely was brought in to assist, and at 11:47, the engineer arrived on-site to initiate a full system restart.
Despite these efforts, the problem persisted until 12:39, when NATS contacted the software supplier, Comsoft, who helped isolate the problematic message that caused the exception. By 13:26, test flight plans were processed, and by 14:27, the system resumed auto-processing flight plans. By 18:03, all restrictions on aircraft in UK airspace were lifted.
The CAA’s report emphasized the rarity of such an incident, noting that it required a combination of six specific data attributes to occur. The CAA praised NATS employees for their professionalism and quick response, although it pointed out that earlier contact with the software supplier could have expedited the resolution.
The incident, however, was marked by a 26-minute delay when the engineer faced login issues upon arriving at the site, where a password failure slowed down the restoration process.
In conclusion, Jeff Halliwell, Chair of the Independent Review Panel, called the incident a “major failure” of the air traffic control system, which caused significant distress for passengers and incurred costs for airlines and airports. The panel issued 34 recommendations for improving NATS’ operations, enhancing coordination within the aviation sector, and ensuring better passenger care in future incidents.
The report suggests that the technical failure resulted in an estimated cost of £75 to £100 million ($95-$126 million) to the aviation industry and passengers. Rob Bishton, CEO of the CAA, highlighted the importance of learning from the incident and implementing sector-wide improvements to avoid similar disruptions in the future.
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