Secretary of State for Transport (): The Civil Aviation Authority
(CAA) has today (14
November 2024) published the final report of the independent
review, led by Jeff Halliwell and an expert panel, into the
NATS technical
IT failure of 28
August 2023. I would like to express my gratitude to the panel
for its work.
In its final report, the panel has recognised that several
factors contributed to the technical failure and that it is
unlikely that the same unique set of circumstances would ever
occur again, and that if they did, due to the actions already
taken by NATS,
the outcome would be different.
Whilst I am pleased that actions have been taken since the
incident, it is critical that we ensure that:
- consumers have confidence when travelling
- possible disruption is minimised
- there is resilience in the system
- air passengers are informed of their rights should something
go wrong
The report estimates that over 700,000 passengers were impacted,
with the total cost of the technical failure to industry and air
passengers likely to have been between £75 and £100 million.
The panel met with a wide range of industry stakeholders,
including NATS, airlines and
airports, international operators, and the Department for
Transport (DfT). It
has reached the conclusion that all relevant parts of the
aviation sector need to work together better in the future when
responding to major events such as the NATS technical failure.
The panel makes a total of 34 recommendations for future
improvements for NATS (12), CAA (11), airlines/airports (6)
and the government (5) to respond to and deliver on.
The 5 recommendations that the government has been asked to
consider relate to improving consumer protections for aviation
passengers, including giving the CAA additional powers and
mandating alternative dispute resolution (ADR) for all airlines
operating in the UK.
The CAA will be
responsible for monitoring delivery against the panel's
recommendations for all parties. It is important that progress is
made and that actions taken deliver better outcomes for the
consumer. I have therefore asked that the CAA produces a report in 6
months' time to provide an update on the progress made in
response to each of the 34 recommendations set out in today's
publication.
Air passenger rights are a priority for my department, and we
will look to introduce reforms when we can to provide air
travellers with the highest level of protection possible.
