Aviation regulator publishes Independent Review into August 2023 NATS Flight Planning System Failure

At a glance

• A final report, prepared by an Independent Review Panel into the air traffic control failure on 28 August 2023, has today been published by the UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA).
• The review into the incident was commissioned by the regulator following the incident, with an Independent Panel chaired by Jeff Halliwell beginning its review in October 2023.

The Civil Aviation Authority estimates that over 700,000 passengers were impacted, including 300,000 people by cancellations, 95,000 by delays of over three hours, and a further 300,000 by shorter delays.

The final report sets out 34 recommendations for NATS, airlines and airports, the Civil Aviation Authority, as well as the Government. Some of the recommendations include:

• NATS to review its contingency and engineering resource management arrangements as well as providing earlier notification to airlines and airports of possible disruption.
• Airlines and airports to review the adequacy of the support available to passengers during significant disruption, in particular to vulnerable passengers and those travelling with children, and to develop a standardised suite of passenger information during major incidents.
• The Civil Aviation Authority to review the incentive framework applied to NATS and establish a forum for the aviation sector to rehearse major incident management.
• The Government to consider legislative change to bring Civil Aviation Authority’s consumer enforcement powers in line with other sectors and to make ADR membership mandatory for all airlines operating in the UK.

NATS has already indicated that it has acted to address a number of findings arising from its own internal investigation after the incident.  The Civil Aviation Authority will publish periodic updates on the progress with implementing the recommendations by all parties.

Jeff Halliwell, Chair of the Independent Review Panel, said:

“The incident on 28 August 2023 represented a major failure on the part of the air traffic control system, which caused considerable distress to over 700,000 aviation passengers, and resulted in substantial costs to airlines and airports. Our report sets out a number of recommendations aimed at improving NATS' operations and, even more importantly, ways in which the aviation sector as a whole should work together more closely to ensure that, if something like this does ever happen again, passengers are better looked after."

Rob Bishton, Chief Executive of the UK Civil Aviation Authority, added:

“This final report gets to the heart of what went wrong in August 2023 and sets out a number of recommendations that are sector-wide in their scope. It is vital that we learn the lessons from any major incident such as this. I would personally like to thank the Panel for all of their efforts in producing a thorough and wide-ranging report, that will help improve the UK’s aviation system for the future.”

Transport Secretary Louise Haigh said:

“The NATS IT failure last year was an unprecedented event that we all hope never happens again, so I welcome the final report and its recommendations to strengthen the sector and restore passenger confidence. I’ve said before that I will be the passenger-in-chief and my priority is to ensure all passengers feel confident when they fly - that’s why my Department will look to introduce reforms, when we can, to provide air travellers with the highest level of protection possible."

Notes to editor

• The UK Civil Aviation Authority is the UK’s independent aviation and aerospace regulator. Our mission statement is ‘Protecting People, Enabling Aerospace’ and we work so that the aviation industry meets the highest safety standards, and that consumers are protected and treated fairly when they fly.
• The report was prepared to be issued under the previous Government but following the announcement in May 2023 of the General Election to take place in July, time was allowed for the new Government to be briefed on its finding ahead of publication.
• The Independent Review of NATS (En Route) Plc’s Flight Planning System Failure Final Report can be found on the UK Civil Aviation Authority website.
• NATS’s main purpose is to deliver a safe air traffic control system in the UK. Among other things, NATS must also take all reasonable steps to secure that the demand for air traffic services is met.