Continued from page 48
way points, arguing: “It was sufficiently different that the system stopped.” The flight plan had come
from European air navigation body Eurocontrol and Rolfe said: “The combination of sequencing and the translation via Eurocontrol’s system to ours [meant] the system didn’t recognise it. [But] it didn’t say ‘it’s because of this flight plan.’” Rolfe explained: “We handle
duplicate flight plans all the time. On four occasions in the last five years the back-up system has taken over.” This time the back-up “came up with the same response”. He said: “We resolved the
issue as quickly as we could in circumstances where we didn’t know precisely what the problem was. “The system didn’t collapse.
It shut down. Other providers around Europe have suffered similar incidents. France had a similar problem that put its system out for seven to eight hours. Italy had a problem the same day. These things are not uncommon but normally fixed within minutes.” Rolfe rejected O’Leary’s
allegations, saying: “Safety is at our core. We don’t treat bank holidays as different. We have the right number of engineers on site. Others can dial in to assist.” He said Nats’ initial report
on the incident was based on Eurocontrol data, noting: “We weren’t trying to determine the impact. The CAA will do that.” Rolfe added: “I understand
the frustration of airlines [but] Nats’ priority is safety. It was set up by the government and airlines that way.”
CAA acts to ‘ensure ATC resilience’ next summer
Ian Taylor
The CAA is holding regular meetings with Gatwick and air traffic control provider Nats to eliminate delays at the airport before next summer. Rob Bishton, CAA chief
executive, told the Transport Select Committee of MPs last week: “We’re convening work with Gatwick and Nats’ commercial branch looking at resilience for 2024, and at ATC provisions in the UK more broadly. That will continue until March to ensure resilience from Easter.” He said: “There is a history to
why [Gatwick ATC] has ended up where it is. It’s not easy to resolve in the short term.” A shortage of controllers at Gatwick led to delays through the summer and to a cap on capacity last month. Both Ryanair chief Michael
O’Leary and easyJet chief commercial officer Sophie Dekkers complained to MPs about the
Airlines defend care of passengers during August crisis
Airline chiefs rejected allegations they failed to care for and communicate with passengers during the air traffic control system meltdown on August 28. Ryanair’s Michael O’Leary
told MPs last week: “I don’t think you understand the scale of what we were dealing with. We have 537 aircraft. We deal with half a
46 26 OCTOBER 2023
Gatwick control tower
on simulators, [but] air traffic controllers are trained in the tower. A qualified controller from overseas has to go all through the training again and airlines are taking the pain for it.” But Nats chief executive Martin
airport, with O’Leary accusing Nats of “routinely short-staffing ATC”. He noted: “At the Aviation
Council [of industry leaders and ministers] we received assurance Nats would be fully staffed for the summer. The assurances were worthless.” Dekkers told the committee:
“We’ve had to remove capacity at Gatwick because the system can’t cope. There aren’t any other ATC bodies in Europe asking us to reduce capacity. There is a shortage of ATC staff at Gatwick. The system is outdated. Our pilots are trained
million passengers a day. You’re talking about August bank holiday. Everything was full – flights, hotels.” He dismissed a Which? report
accusing carriers of failing to rebook passengers on alternative flights or provide accommodation as “misinformation”. EasyJet’s Sophie Dekkers said:
“We had 599 flights cancelled and 110,000 passengers impacted. The fact we had 30,000 passengers use alternative transport means our com- munications must have been clear.” Airlines UK chief executive
Tim Alderslade added: “The idea airlines did not do everything to
sort this out is difficult to take.” CAA chief executive Rob
Bishton told MPs: “It was an extraordinary event. [But] the airline response was good. Airlines performed beyond their obligations.”
travelweekly.co.uk
Rolfe insisted: “We’re appropriately staffed with perhaps the exception at Gatwick [where] we took over the contract last year. We had the contract years ago with much higher staffing levels [and] the airport decided to bring in another provider at lower staffing.” He added: “We’re unique in
the world in that we can’t take overseas controllers. We can’t even use military air traffic controllers without retraining. There is a strong requirement in the regulations for on-the-job training [and] it takes about three years. Nine months is the shortest you could go from being a controller somewhere else [in the UK] to being a controller at Gatwick.” Bishton described ATC training
as “a global issue”.
Sophie Dekkers
PICTURES: Shutterstock/1000 Words, ajlatan;
Flameflynet.uk.com; Nats
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