The failure of the air traffic control system must never happen again, a local MP has told the Government.
A technical failure of the UK’s air traffic control system caused widespread flight chaos last week.
Transport secretary Heidi Alexander told the House of Commons that she had ordered an independent investigation by the aviation watchdog into the system operated by National Air Traffic Services (NATS), which went down for four hours on Tuesday.
More than 2,000 flights were cancelled as passengers were left stranded or rerouted — and not eligible for compensation from airlines, as the issues were out of their control.
Speaking in the House of Commons, MP Tim Roca, whose Macclesfield constituency runs to the edge of Congleton and includes Chelford and Havannah, said the review must ensure “this never happens again”.
“Many of us have constituents who have been very badly and unacceptably impacted by these delays,” he said.
Ms Alexander said she had read reports of people having to sleep overnight in airports and people who had potentially missed weddings, “so we cannot say enough about how important it is that we address this problem”.
She told Mr Roca that she had learned in politics that absolute guarantees when it came to managing the operation of “a vast and complex transport system” could be unwise, but said she would leave “no stone unturned” in seeking to understand what had happened and what can be done to “drastically reduce” the likelihood of something like this ever happening again.
She told Mr Roca: “We need to ask tough questions about the resilience of NATS’s systems and progress with planned upgrades, and we need to think about consumer redress issues.”
The question and answer came in a debate about the Civil Aviation (Consumer Protection and Regulatory Reform) Bill, which was having its second reading and will make a number of changes to legislation following the UK leaving the EU, to give the UK Government powers to legislate on air passenger rights and airport slots.
It will include regulations covering issues such as flight disruption, lost or damaged luggage, accessibility, price transparency and airline liability for passenger injury or death.
Mr Roca said the bill represented “another example of how the Government is on the side of consumers”.
“By giving the Civil Aviation Authority direct enforcement powers and increasing transparency to ensure that passengers are always told who is operating their flight and how they can find redress, the bill is another example of the Government rebalancing power back in favour of the consumer,” he said.
He said that more than 500 jobs in his constituency were dependent on the airport, the third busiest in the UK.
He went on: “Sometimes things go wrong, whether it is a bag that does not make it or a flight that is significantly delayed. Disruption can occur at any moment, and we have certainly seen that with the NATS events in the last 24 hours.
“The bill will give passengers much greater confidence that, when things do go wrong, they can be put right. Given the changing nature of air travel and global trends, it is right that the bill empowers the secretary of state to act on behalf of passengers without having to pass further primary legislation, such as on baggage damage, liability for passenger insurance, ensuring price transparency and ensuring flights are accessible to all passengers, especially those who are disabled.”
(Photo: JCSigma2000 / Wikimedia).
