National Air Traffic Services (Nats) has stated that a software defect in its air traffic control system corrupted flight data "in the space of a millisecond". This led to a six-hour outage and mass airline cancellations and delays across the UK last week.
The failure, which occurred on Tuesday, 8 September, initially affected flights departing in the London area before spreading to disrupt travel across the UK and beyond. Hundreds of thousands of passengers experienced travel disruption.
Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander has tasked the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) with conducting an independent review to verify Nats' findings and investigate their plans to enhance future resilience. The CAA's review is expected to be published within six months.
Nats Chief Executive Officer, Martin Rolfe, apologised for the disruption and stated that the issue has been identified. Mitigation measures are now in place while a permanent fix undergoes safety testing and deployment.