- Transport secretary Heidi Alexander apologised to passengers and informed MPs that she does not believe the four-hour Nats air traffic control outage at its Swanwick site was unavoidable, while ruling out a cyber attack.
- The technical issue caused severe travel chaos across major UK airports, impacting over 2,000 flights over two days and forcing British Airways alone to cancel nearly 550 flights, disrupting more than 85,000 travellers.
- The government has instructed the Civil Aviation Authority to launch an independent review into the disruption, which is expected to report back within six months alongside a full internal investigation by Nats.
- Nats chief executive Martin Rolfe apologised and took full responsibility for the incident, facing calls to resign from Ryanair and criticism from Wizz Air, although Downing Street stated the government maintains confidence in him.
- British Airways called for urgent improvements to aviation system resilience following repeated technical failures, while thousands of stranded passengers faced severe delays, missing events, and targeted scam attempts.
IN FULL
