UK CAA publishes 2023 NATS failure interim report

The UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has published a progress report into the independent review of the NATS air traffic control system failure that occurred on August 28 2023. An estimated 700,000 passengers were impacted by the event, including 300,000 people experiencing cancelations, a further 95,000 by delays of over three hours, and another 300,000 by shorter delays. NATS (National Air Traffic Services) has indicated that it has acted to address findings highlighted during its own internal investigation. The report explains that the cause of the NERL flight plan processing system “was the inability of the system software to successfully process the flight plan data for a specific flight from Los Angeles to Paris (Orly),” with systems subsequently placed into maintenance mode and preventing further automated processing of flight plan data; necessitating a switch to manual processing capacity. The interim CAA report says that after engaging with a wide range of stakeholders (and “receiving, with one or two exceptions, very good levels of engagement,” it is now exploring “further lines of enquiry it is exploring in order to build a better understanding of how the aviation system can improve”. The final report is expected to be published later this year.