Travel chaos: UK air traffic control’s ‘staggering’ failure could cost US$127 million as thousands of passengers stranded
- On Monday, a technical fault led to Britain’s worst air traffic disruption in nearly 10 years and stranded passengers continued to be affected on Wednesday
- Many travellers are being told to wait several days for flights home and some have been forced to sleep on floors or makeshift beds at airports
The worst disruption to UK air traffic control in almost a decade following a technical fault risks costing carriers around US$127 million, the head of global airline body IATA estimated on Wednesday.
Many British holidaymakers were stranded overseas after around 2,000 flights were cancelled because of the issue on Monday and passengers continued to be affected by cancelled flights on Wednesday.
“I would imagine that at an industry-level, we’ll be getting close to £100 million (US$127 million) of additional costs that airlines have encountered as a result of this failure,” Willie Walsh, director general of the International Air Transport Association, told the BBC.
“It’s very unfair because the air traffic control system which was at the heart of this failure doesn’t pay a single penny,” added the former chief executive of IAG, whose main airline is British Airways.
Costs included finding new flights for stranded passengers and providing overnight accommodation.
Walsh expressed doubt over the reason provided by UK body, the National Air Traffic Services (Nats), for the breakdown, which said an “unusual piece of data” caused the widespread flight disruption.