French airline’s incorrectly filed travel plan COULD have crashed UK’s entire air traffic control network, No 10 suggests – as experts say NATS ‘don’t seem like they’re fully on top of the situation’ while thousands remain stranded

Downing Street has declined to rule out the possibility that an inputting error by a French airline could have caused the UK’s air traffic control shutdown – as nearly 300 more flights were cancelled today amid warnings travel chaos could last the week. 

Almost 1,000 flights were grounded and cancelled with thousands more delayed after Britain’s National Air Traffic Services (NATS) experienced ‘technical issues’ yesterday. 

Analysis of flight data websites shows at least 281 flights – including departures and arrivals – were cancelled today at the UK’s six busiest airports. This consisted of 75 at Gatwick, 74 at Heathrow, 63 at Manchester, 28 at Stansted, 23 at Luton and 18 at Edinburgh. Many other flights were significantly delayed and around 200,000 people remain stranded. 

Sources previously told The Times that yesterday’s fault may have been caused by an incorrectly filed plan by a French airline. NATS has ruled out a cyber attack. 

Asked about the reports today, Rishi Sunak’s official spokesman said: ‘There’s going to be, think you’ll know that there’s going to be an investigation by the CAA (Civil Aviation Authority) and a report shared with Government.

‘I think (Transport Secretary) Mark Harper confirmed this morning he’ll be getting that in days. ‘I’m not going to pre-empt that. I’ve seen, obviously, various bits of speculation, but I’m not going to pre-empt the work that needs to be done.’

Aviation experts have played down the possibility that the shutdown was caused by an inputting error.

Today, Transport Secretary Mark Harper said it was the worst incident of its kind in ‘nearly a decade’ and announced an ‘independent review’ will be carried out. 

The Civil Aviation Authority said NATS would provide them with an incident report once their investigation was ‘fully complete’. This will then be shared with Mr Harper, a statement said. A NATS spokesman has previously told MailOnline there was ‘nothing to suggest a cyber attack’.

Sally Gethin, former editor of Air Traffic Management magazine, questioned the way NATS had communicated with the public during the crisis. She told MailOnline: ‘NATS are used to talking about their technological advances but aren’t used to such immediate scrutiny. 

‘They put out a video saying they had remedied the problem but it doesn’t seem to me that they’ve understood what the core issue is. They’re trying to reassure the public but the way they’re communicating doesn’t give me the impression that they are fully on top of the situation.’ 

*Are you affected by the UK air traffic control shutdown? Email your story, with photos, to tom.pyman@mailonline.co.uk and rory.tingle@mailonline.co.uk 

Passengers queue up at 4.20am today inside Manchester Airport’s Terminal Two

Large queues inside London Heathrow Airport Terminal Five this morning 

Scenes at Manchester Airport early this morning as queues build up at Terminal One

Passengers stranded overnight at London Gatwick Airport are pictured this morning

Passengers queue for check-in in the car park at Manchester Airport’s Terminal One 

A flight departures board at Manchester Airport shows cancelled departures this morning

Jeremy Spake, who starred in the BBC documentary series Airport and now runs an aviation consultancy, said he suspected the issue may have been caused by a communication failure between NATS and Eurocontrol, which manages European air traffic and is based in Brussels.

‘Both systems automatically communicate together so there may have been a problem that led to the data becoming scrambled up,’ he told MailOnline.

Mr Spake said it was ‘possible’ the outage could have been caused by a faulty flight plan sent in by a French airline, as a source has claimed, but said he believes this is ‘unlikely’.

He said: ‘If there is a flight plan that potentially has errors in it, normally that would get rejected and go back to the airline.

‘It’s possible that an airline has done that, and it’s gone into the system and created a snowball effect. But I think that’s doubtful.’

Mr Spake said the interconnected nature of the global aviation system means delays could last for up to four days.

He added: ‘The knock-on effect for now will last for three or four days. Not because planes won’t be able to fly but because people weren’t able to get on their flights and they can’t always go on the next one because it’s fully booked.

‘Then you have air crew who are in the wrong location and have to be moved around.’

The National Air Traffic Services (NATS) currently handles around 2.6million flights every year.    

Former Air Traffic Management magazine editor Sally Gethin questioned the way NATS had communicated with the public during the crisis. She told MailOnline: ‘NATS are used to talking about their technological advances but aren’t used to such immediate scrutiny. 

‘They put out a video saying they had remedied the problem but it doesn’t seem to me that they’ve understood what the core issue is. They’re trying to reassure the public but the way they’re communicating doesn’t give me the impression that they are fully on top of the situation.’ 

Ms Gethin said the outage was ‘concerning’ for NATS given it was currently going through a major modernisation programme. 

‘How on earth are they going to be able to enter that next generation era when they are hit by an outage and are forced into a manual system that goes back to the 1990s or 1980s?’ she asked. 

‘There’s a massive disconnect between where NATS is heading in the future and having to go back to the past in the last 24 hours. It’s not a good look for them at all.’ 

She said it was still not clear what had caused the issue. She told MailOnline: ‘It could simply be something that was dormant in the software, we just don’t know. I’ve not seen any evidence for it being an airline that’s caused it, but we’ll have to see.’ 

It’s understood officials are aware of what caused the outage but not how it disabled the system.

NATS said today: ‘We would like to reiterate our apology for yesterday’s technical issue affecting UK air traffic control. We know a great many people have had their travel plans disrupted and are still facing the impact of delays and cancellations.

‘Our systems are operating as normal and we are working with the airlines and airports to get people where they need to go and clear the backlog as quickly as possible.

‘A thorough investigation is now underway to understand the root cause of what happened and we are committed to learning any lessons to minimise the chance of a similar incident happening again.’

Mary Byrne, 69, Alex Ogen, 16, and his mother Elisha checked in their luggage and went through passport control at Manchester Airport today only to be told their flight had been cancelled

The Rowley family from Rochdale (left to right: barbara, Chris and his wife Kirstie) also had their flights cancelled today 

Passengers were stranded overnight at London Gatwick Airport. The are pictured this morning 

Passengers sleeping on mats inside Gatwick Airport following the air traffic control failure 

Passengers queue for check-in at Manchester Airport’s Terminal Two this morning

Passengers queue for check-in in the underground car park at Manchester Airport’s Terminal One today 

Passengers queue up at 3.48am this morning at Manchester Airport’s Terminal One 

Today, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said Transport Secretary Mark Harper would be talking to airlines about their responsibilities to passengers hit by air traffic control disruption.

He told broadcasters: ‘I know people will be enormously frustrated by the disruption that’s impacting them.

‘Thankfully things like this are rare and the issue itself was fixed in a matter of hours, but the disruption obviously is continuing and will last for a little while longer.

‘The Transport Secretary is in constant dialogue with all the industry participants, he will be talking to airlines specifically later today and making sure that they support passengers to get home as quickly as possible.’

Katrina Harrison and her family – including one-year-old twin grandchildren – spent the night at Leeds Bradford Airport after their flight to Antalya, Turkey was cancelled on Monday afternoon.

Ms Harrison, from Stockton-on-Tees, said: ‘There were no hotels to stay in, we couldn’t get the car out of the car park.

‘We haven’t slept, we tried to sleep on the floor but couldn’t. Luckily the children could sleep in the pram.

‘The holiday was supposed to be a family celebration of a few things. We’ve spent £12,000 on it and we’ve been treated like muck.’

Ryan and Kirsty Fawcett, from Selby in North Yorkshire, were at East Midlands Airport with their two-year-old twin sons for their first holiday as a family – and the couple’s first since 2019 – to Antalya in Turkey.

Their flight on Monday afternoon was cancelled, and after staying in a hotel overnight, they were booked on another departure on Tuesday morning that was also axed.

Ms Fawcett said: ‘What has annoyed us more is we have been told ‘just sit and wait around’, with the extra expense of hotels and things.

‘What if we didn’t have money spare?’

Aviation consultant John Strickland said providing ATC for flights is ‘complicated’.

A passenger sleeping on the floor at Manchester Airport early this morning 

The chaos happened on one of the busiest travel days of the year (this man is seen at Manchester Airport this morning) 

He went on: ‘Systems are meant to be robust. They are pressure tested and that does give a very high level of reliability.

‘But as we’ve seen in other parts of the industry, and undoubtedly in other industries too like the banking sector, there is a vulnerability in which relying on IT systems presents.’

Holidaymakers arriving at Manchester Airport this morning were only told their flight had been cancelled at the boarding gate.

Mental health worker Elisha Mullaney had booked a flight to Corfu with Jet2.

The 41-year-old said: ‘I received a text from Jet2 telling me to arrive as normal.

‘We checked in our bags and went through security only to be told at the gate it was one of five flights to be cancelled.

‘It is very annoying and they must have known well in advance.

‘It’s my son’s 16 birthday today, which makes it worst.

‘I tried to find alternative flights so we could still go but it was going to cost us £600 a ticket. The flight price had increased so much.

‘I’m just hoping we will get our money back and we can find something else quickly.’

Elisha, from Manchester, was going on a week’s holiday with her son Alex Ogden.

Mary Byrne, who was also on the same flight, said: ‘I don’t understand why Jet2 can’t just delay the flight.

‘They made us go all the way through the checking in process knowing there was no chance of us boarding and departing.

‘I thought everything with air traffic control would have been sorted by now.

‘We are really disappointed.’

Passengers check the flight screens at Heathrow Airport this morning  

Hundreds of flights were cancelled at London’s busiest airport (which is seen today) 

A man lying on the floor this morning in Terminal One at Manchester Airport 

Kirstie Rowley, 52, a payroll and finance officer from Rochdale, was also travelling to Corfu on the 7.30am flight.

She said: ‘We expected to be delayed with what we had seen on the news but we did think we would get away.

‘We had checked in, found ourselves a comfortable spot to wait and got a round of drinks. Then we were told the flight had been cancelled.

‘I’m going to have to go back into work tomorrow because if I don’t I won’t have enough days left to take later. I’ve already lost one day.

‘We were supposed to be meeting friends out in Corfu so I’m going to have to let them know.

‘We are going to try to get out later in the week and extend the holiday if the hotel is available.’

Barbara Rowley, who is retired and in her 70s, said: ‘We’ve just tried to get a taxi home and were told

It would cost £87. Only a few hours ago it was £40.

‘It is wrong. Everyone is trying to make a quick buck and cash in on what is happening.

‘I am fed up and have been looking forward to this holiday.’

Chris Rowley, 51, a sheet metal worker, said: ‘It is always chaos over the bank holiday weekend. Something always seems to happen to cause delays and cancellations.

‘I am gutted because I’ve worked seven days a week for the past two weeks to get in front with my work because I knew I was going away.

‘Why did they make us go through security if they were just going to cancel the flight?

‘We have spent a lot of money already and all we have done is spend a few hours in the airport.

‘I just hope we can fly out later in the week.’

Barbara Rowley, who is retired and in her 70s, said: ‘We’ve just tried to get a taxi home and were told it would cost £87. 

‘Only a few hours ago it was £40. It is wrong. Everyone is trying to make a quick buck and cash in on what is happening. I am fed up and have been looking forward to this holiday.’

Chris Rowley, 51, a sheet metal worker, said: ‘It is always chaos over the bank holiday weekend. Something always seems to happen to cause delays and cancellations.

‘I am gutted because I’ve worked seven days a week for the past two weeks to get in front with my work because I knew I was going away.

‘Why did they make us go through security if they were just going to cancel the flight?

‘We have spent a lot of money already and all we have done is spend a few hours in the airport.

‘I just hope we can fly out later in the week.’

Under UK law, those affected have legal rights which oblige the airlines to provide support to customers flying from a UK airport, arriving in the country on an EU or UK airline, or arriving at an EU airport on a UK airline.

The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) website says that in the case of a ‘significant delay’, the airline must provide a reasonable amount of food and drink, commonly in the form of vouchers, refunds for the cost of calls, and accommodation for passengers stuck overnight and transport to a hotel or their home.

The CAA accepts airlines are sometimes unable to organise such support, so passengers should make their own ‘reasonable’ arrangements and keep receipts to claim money back, but the authority adds that ‘luxury hotels and alcohol’ are unlikely to be paid for.

The authority adds that once a passenger accepts a refund or to travel later than the first available flight, then the airline is not obliged to provide food, drink or accommodation. 

Nicky Kelvin, Editor at Large at The Points Guy, urged travellers to check the Flight Radar 24 website to track the exact aircraft that will be flying your route. 

‘You’re then able to see where this plane is and whether it has made it out of its previous destination.

‘Knowing this information will help you to determine whether you will be encountering any delays ahead of your trip,’ he said. 

‘If you’re delayed for more than two hours on a short-haul flight, airlines must provide you with support such as food and drink and reimbursement for phone calls. If you’re delayed overnight, they will provide you accommodation and transport to a hotel (or home).’