The head of NATS announced on Wednesday that the technical issue leading to thousands of flight cancellations and delays has been resolved and will not occur again.
Willie Walsh, Former CEO of British Airways, highlighted: “I would imagine that at an industry level, we have been getting close to $126 million of additional costs that airlines have encountered as a result.”
Walsh said authorities needed to look at who bears that cost. “It’s very unfair because the air traffic control system which was at the heart of this failure doesn’t pay a single penny.”
While passengers can reclaim expenses for accommodation due to flight cancellations, no compensation will be given for disruptions deemed as “extraordinary circumstances”.
In spite of the resolution, thousands of British travelers are still stuck overseas due to 1,500 flights being canceled on Monday and ongoing disruptions on Tuesday.
NATS CEO, Martin Rolfe, elaborated that the problem was due to a non-standard flight plan, but assured that measures have been taken to prevent a similar incident in the future.
Ryanair criticized NATS for not having a backup system, and airlines are currently working to bring passengers back home, a process in which NATS is participating.
EasyJet will be operating five additional flights from popular destinations in Portugal and Spain to help repatriate stranded travelers.
NATS is set to submit a report detailing the incident to the transport minister next Monday. Once the repatriation efforts are completed, airlines will have to deal with the significant financial impact of the incident.
