LONDON (Reuters) -An air traffic meltdown that hit Britain last week was caused by a
"one in 15 million" event, the boss of traffic control provider NATS said, after it cited a flight plan with two identically named markers as the reason for the chaos.
Thousands of passengers were stranded abroad for days after 1,500 flights were cancelled on Aug. 28, during one of the busiest travel periods of the summer."We've processed 15 million flight plans with this system up until this point and never seen this before." The NATS report published on Wednesday said the flight plan included two identically named but separate waypoint markers outside UK airspace, which forced the system to enter fail-safe mode.
"In these circumstances, the system could not reject the flight plan without a clear understanding of what possible impact it may have had. Nor could it be allowed through and risk presenting air traffic controllers with incorrect safety-critical information," NATS said.Britain's civil aviation regulator said it would review circumstances surrounding the failure.
"If there is evidence to suggest NATS may have breached its statutory and licensing obligations we will consider whether any further action is necessary," Rob Bishton, Joint-Interim Chief Executive at the UK's CAA, said in a statement.Airlines have said the episode could cost them up to 100 million pounds as passengers whose flights were cancelled will be able to claim back expenses for the hotels they stayed in or the new tickets they bought.
Canada Latest News, Canada Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
The Rolling Stones set to announce new album 'Hackney Diamonds'LONDON (Reuters) - The Rolling Stones are set to announce
Read more »
Hundreds more UK school buildings could be crumbling, says ministerBy Sachin Ravikumar LONDON (Reuters) - Hundreds more school buildings in England might be crumbling and unsafe, Britain's education minister said on ...
Read more »
Hundreds more UK school buildings could be crumbling, says ministerBy Sachin Ravikumar LONDON (Reuters) - Hundreds more school buildings in England might be crumbling and unsafe, Britain's education minister said on ...
Read more »
Britain sets priorities for November global AI safety summitLONDON (Reuters) - Britain set out its objectives for its global artificial intelligence (AI) safety summit on Monday, focusing on understanding the ...
Read more »
Mozambique president Nyusi has immunity in London 'tuna bond' case, court rulesLONDON (Reuters) - Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi cannot be sued in Britain over allegations he accepted unlawful payments in the country's lawsuit ...
Read more »
Mozambique president Nyusi has immunity in London 'tuna bond' case, court rulesLONDON (Reuters) - Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi cannot be sued in Britain over allegations he accepted unlawful payments in the country's lawsuit ...
Read more »