Air traffic control boss has confidence of government as UK flight cancellations top 2,000 – business live

Tuesday's air traffic control issue forced British Airways to cancel nearly 550 flights – affecting 85,000 of its customers.

A total of 349 were axed on Tuesday and a further 200 cancelled on Wednesday. The airline diverted 17 journeys to different airports.

A BA spokesperson said:

Since yesterday, we've rebooked more than 60,000 customers to travel on alternative flights, getting them to their destinations as quickly as we can.

Today, we've been able to operate almost 80% of our schedule across our whole network.

We know this has been a very challenging and frustrating time for our customers, and we're incredibly sorry for the experience they've endured because of an issue that has been entirely out of our control.

The scale and challenge of dealing with the aftermath of an event like this is severe and complex.

What this and previous disruption events highlight is the enormous impact customers suffer when one part of the aviation system fails.

Transport secretary Heidi Alexander told MPs she did not believe the air traffic control problems that have caused chaos for passengers were “unavoidable†and said she had asked the Civil Aviation Authority to conduct an independent review.

She told the Commons:

A four-hour air traffic outage yesterday left hundreds of thousands of passengers facing cancellations, diversions and delays. I would like to apologise wholeheartedly to passengers for this disruption.

We often take for granted the way in which our aviation system just works, but yesterday that was not the case. Safety must remain air traffic controllers' overriding priority and this morning I have spoken to Nats chief executive Martin Rolfe, who informed me this outage was due to a technical issue at their Swanwick site.

So, while my understanding from Nats is that we can rule out a cyber attack on this occasion, I do not believe this issue was unavoidable.

Alexander added:

We also spoke this morning about how Nats responded to resolve and minimise the disruption as quickly as possible, and I am grateful to the airports and airlines who responded straight away.

But I am clear that passengers should not have to face this disruption. I have therefore asked the CAA to conduct an independent review to establish cause and ensure that our air traffic control systems can get passengers to where they need to be and this … review will report to me within six months.

The number of cancelled flights is now almost as many as 2,100 over the past two days, according to Cirium, the aviation analytics company.

In its 3pm update, Cirium said that so far today, 347 flights have been cancelled or did not fly – 150 departures and 197 arrivals.

The figure represents 5.91% of the 5,869 scheduled flights, while a normal day is between 1%-2%.

Combined across the past two days, there have been 2,093 flights affected.

UK rail passengers who have been affected by flight disruption can travel on a different date, use an alternative station where appropriate, or apply for a refund, the Rail Delivery Group (RDG) has said.

This applies to train customers travelling to and from affected airports, the organisation said.

Train tickets for travelling to or from affected airports on Tuesday or Wednesday can now be used on the date of a rebooked flight.

Customers using rail tickets at a different time or on a different date must carry evidence of flight disruption, for example a rebooked airline ticket or cancellation notification.

Passengers can claim fee-free refunds within 28 days of the date of travel for abandoned train journeys or where customers have had to purchase a new rail ticket to or from a different airport following a flight diversion, the RDG said.

Martin Rolfe, the boss of Britain's main air traffic control provider, has the confidence of the government – but has to deliver a report on the full investigation into yesterday's technical glitch in a week's time, Downing Street has said.

There have been calls for Nats CEO to resign or be sacked, as more than 2,000 flights have been cancelled to and from UK airports over the last two days.

The prime minister's official spokesman told reporters:

You've seen this morning that the transport secretary [Heidi Alexander] met the chief of National Air Traffic Service (Nats) to raise significant concerns at the scale of disruption on behalf of both passengers and industry.

She's asked him to carry out a full investigation into what happened to make sure that lessons are learned, so that this doesn't happen again. She set a deadline for them to report back in a week's time.

And through our Civil Aviation Bill, which returns to Parliament today, we will make sure air passengers get stronger protection of rights around cancellations, delays, and passenger support.

Asked whether Alexander and the prime minister still have confidence in Nats chief Martin Rolfe, the spokesman said:

Well, you've got the transport secretary's instruction to the Nats CEO.

I think it's self-evident that she wants answers and the full investigation to be reported back in a week's time, and she's got confidence in him to deliver that.

Pressed whether this meant the Government's confidence in the head of air traffic control was conditional on the outcome of the investigation, the spokesman replied:

We have confidence in him and he's been tasked with the investigation, which will report in a week's time.

National Air Traffic Services has reiterated that Tuesday's technical glitch that caused the current flight chaos was “not the same issue†as an air traffic control fault in August 2023.

Asked whether the latest problem was the same as the crisis on August bank holiday 2023, Nats said:

This was not the same issue.

We will conduct a full investigation to establish what happened and identify any further action required.

Back to our main story, the 2,000-plus flight cancellations to and from UK airports after yesterday's air traffic control glitch (which has been resolved).

Ann O'Leary, director of donor and transplantation services at Anthony Nolan, said:

Flight cancellations are affecting more than holidaymakers; they're also disrupting the delivery of lifesaving stem cells to patients in need.

Operational teams at the charity Anthony Nolan have been working closely with its stem cell couriers throughout the night to tackle obstacles but at least five couriers transporting stem cells for transplants were caught up in travel disruption caused by air traffic control issues.

Stem cells must be transported from donor to patient within a 72-hour window, meaning couriers have been forced to find alternative routes. One is travelling from Poland to Belgium, then taking the Eurostar to London before continuing by train to the transplant centre.

The Bectu union said the 300 job cuts at Channel 4 – the biggest in its 43-year history – are a further blow to the already struggling UK TV industry.

Philippa Childs, head of the Broadcasting, Entertainment, Communications and Theatre Union (Bectu), said:

These job cuts are a further blow to the UK TV industry which is struggling in the face of an increasingly competitive environment and significant reductions in advertising revenue.

Like the BBC, C4 is a vital part of the industry and of our ability to produce uniquely British programming.

Broadcasting and the creative industries are a key sector for the UK economy. Cuts of this scale, on top of cuts by other broadcasters, will be deeply worrying not only to people in Channel 4 fearing for their jobs, but to everyone who works in film and TV.

Bectu has held initial talks with Channel 4 and will continue to engage with them and with our members in the coming weeks to ensure that those who may be affected are offered every possible support.

The total number of flights cancelled as a result of yesterday's Nats outage has risen to more than 2,000, according to the aviation analytics company Cirium.

8 September: More than 1,700 flight movements were impacted: 903 departures and 843 arrivals. 30.10% were canceled or did not fly, out of 5,800 scheduled.

9 September: So far, today 291 flights are cancelled: 120 departures and 171 arrivals, around 5% of the 5,869 scheduled. A normal day is between 1-2%.

Drivers' cabs in all London buses will have air conditioning by next summer, Transport for London has announced.

Drivers had been left sweltering in extreme heat with unions claiming temperatures reaching 50C for drivers on older buses.

A threatened strike by Arriva drivers in a north London depot was called off this week after securing agreement to tackle the issue.

Now TfL has agreed to ensure all buses across the capital are retrofitted with A/C and better ventilation by the end of May 2027.

TfL said new buses entering the fleet were subject to more rigorous air standards than older vehicles, and that significant progress has already been made retrofitting the driver's cab of a New Routemaster – the Boris Johnson acquisition nicknamed the Roastmaster.

Solar film to screen out UV rays and better seating for drivers are among aother measures being explored.

The mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, welcomed the news, and said:

This is personal to me. I want to thank our bus drivers for all their work keeping London moving during this unprecedented summer of heat.â€

The Unite union said its members had suffered problems including heatstroke, dehydration and fatigue. General secretary Sharon Graham said:

Inadequate cooling systems in buses have left bus drivers having to endure appalling conditions this summer. This concession from TfL is an important win.

The union said that there had been “years of false promises†and warned it would “not allow bus drivers to suffer through another hot summer.â€

In other news, Channel 4 has confirmed it is to make the biggest round of layoffs in its 43-year history, cutting 340 jobs, 28% of the broadcaster's current workforce.

Today marks the first day in our transformation, ensuring Channel 4 is the right shape and size to deliver its future strategy and focus investment in the programmes audiences love,†said Dogra. “I know the proposals we are announcing today will be very difficult for many colleagues and will have a significant impact across the organisation. Many talented people who have made an enormous contribution to Channel 4 will be leaving as a result.

Martin Rolfe, the chief executive of National Air Traffic Services, has been summoned by the UK transport secretary Heidi Alexander this morning to answer questions about yesterday's system issue that has led to widespread flight chaos.

Ryanair, the UK's largest airline, has called Alexander to sack Rolfe, after the UK boss of Wizz Air urged him to consider resigning.

Ryanair highlighted the frequent and repeated failures of the Nats air traffic control system under Rolfe's leadership – failures that are not replicated in any other EU air traffic control provider. It said yesterday's problem, described as a “flight plan processing failure,†was the same as the one that caused a system outage in August 2023, when Rolfe promised this would not happen again.

Yesterday's latest NATS system failure shows that the primary system is unreliable, and the backup system is useless.

Ryanair's CEO Michael O'Leary said:

Martin Rolfe's position as NATS CEO is untenable. We don't need more ‘investigations', we don't need more “reportsâ€, and we don't need another parliamentary committee hearing where Martin Rolfe will promise change, will promise resilience, and will promise an effective backup system. Martin Rolfe is an overpaid (£1.4m p.a.) failure. It is time for his removal, and it is time that somebody competent was appointed to run UK ATC, which is one of Europe's most expensive ATC systems, and yet it keeps repeatedly failing.

Under Martin Rolfe's watch, UK NATS has spent more money paying dividends to its shareholders (the UK Govt and UK airlines), but it has failed to invest in a resilient primary system, has failed to invest in an effective backup system, and as yesterday's events show now UK NATS keeps failing under Martin Rolfe's leadership.

Transport Minister Heidi Alexander, who owns 49% of NATS, must today demand that failing Martin Rolfe must quit, or be dismissed. Airlines and passengers serving the UK keep picking up the tab for Martin Rolfe's repeated failures. It is time for this expensive, failing CEO to go, and allow UK NATS to be led by somebody competent and capable of delivering a resilient system and a backup system that actually works.

Petrol and diesel prices at the pump have also gone up, according to the AA and RAC motoring groups.

The AA said petrol prices have gone up by 4.4p a litre since the Bank Holiday last week. Diesel is up 4.1p a litre since 1 September. Yesterday, the two fuels averaged 166.2 and 187.7p a litre respectively.

The RAC said the average price of unleaded has increased by 5p a litre in just the last week to reach 167.17p, while diesel has gone up by the same amount to 188.63p. This means the cost of filling a family-size car has increased by £2.75 over this short period.

RAC senior policy officer Rod Dennis said:

Drivers are having to dig ever deeper into their pockets every time they fill up, and there's no sign of any relief yet. With the cost of a barrel of oil having averaged $96 for the last week, wholesale prices are surging and that's already feeding through to prices at the forecourt.

The latest price rises throw into sharp focus just how exposed UK drivers can be to events thousands of miles away, and will likely increase calls for the chancellor to demonstrate support for households already struggling with the rising cost of living. As things stand, fuel duty – which, together with tax, accounts for half of the cost of every litre of petrol we buy – is set to start rising from January but we believe there is a very strong case for leaving it at its current level, at least until the end of the parliament.

With no end to the US/Iran conflict in sight, there's little drivers can do to protect themselves from rising prices, apart from driving as efficiently as possible.

Luke Bosdet, the AA's spokesman on pump prices, said:

Once again, with petrol wholesale costs shooting up to their highest since the Ukraine war, we can see average pump prices wasting no time in reflecting that. However, there are savings to be made by those drivers prepared to use the Fuel Finder tools now available to them.

However, what also irritates drivers in England, Scotland and Wales is the persistent 6p gap between what they pay on average for fuel and the cheaper petrol and diesel in Northern Ireland. AA analysis of yesterday's prices registered with Fuel Finder shows that, in fact, hundreds of fuel stations on the mainland manage to retail fuel at prices on a par with Northern Ireland.

The trouble is, as the Competition and Markets Authrity reported, the vast majority choose to over-price petrol and diesel at the expense of commuters, families and businesses. Little wonder that electric vehicle sales have been booming this summer.

Energy companies BP, Shell and British Gas parent Centrica are among the main risers on the FTSE 100 index today, as the oil price surged through $100 a barrel, for the first time since 24 July.

Centrica shares are up 2.1%, BP has gained 1.5% and Shell is 0.9% ahead.

The wider FTSE 100 index is trading lower, down 0.6% or 66 points at 10,745. The German, French, Italian and Spanish indices have fallen even more, between 1.1% and 1.9%.

Daniela Hathorn, senior market analyst at the trading platform capital.com, said:

Markets remain on the defensive as the latest escalation in the Middle East pushes Brent to $100 a barrel. US forces have struck Iranian oil tankers following attempted attacks on US naval vessels, while Iran retaliated against a US-used base in Jordan and says it targeted vessels attempting to cross the strait of Hormuz. Houthi attacks on Saudi energy facilities have widened the threat further, raising concerns that disruption could spread beyond Iranian supply to the infrastructure and alternative routes that have helped keep Gulf crude flowing.

That has brought the inflationary consequences of the conflict firmly back into focus. Wall Street fell on Tuesday as higher crude revived concerns that the energy shock could stall disinflation and force central banks to remain restrictive. US rate expectations have shifted accordingly, while upcoming inflation data will be particularly important in determining whether $100 oil is beginning to feed more materially into the Fed[eral Reserve] outlook.

Europe faces an even more immediate policy test with the European Central Bank meeting on Thursday. Markets are widely positioned for a 25 basis point hike, after the ECB explicitly warned in July that the full inflationary impact of the energy shock had yet to emerge. The latest surge in oil, and European gas prices, makes that concern harder to dismiss. Focus will be on Christine Lagarde's guidance on whether this is sufficient insurance against the energy shock or whether further tightening remains likely.

UK and European gas prices have risen to a multi-year highs, while the oil price jumped above $100 a barrel.

The escalating Middle East conflict, cooler weather and rising Asian gas prices has led to aggressive gas buying ahead of the winter.

The benchmark Dutch gas contract leapt nearly 4% to €78.73 per megawatt hour, the highest since January 2023.

The British contract rose 7.77 pence 196.57p per therm, the highest since late December 2022.

In oil markets, Brent crude surged through $100 a barrel for the first time since July, rising 2.7% to $100.68 a barrel.

European gas stores are only 67% full, compared to 79.5% a year ago, according to data from Gas Infrastructure Europe.

Analysts at HSBC are forecasting that European stock levels will reach 73% by 1 November, the lowest since data collection began in 2009, and do not expect Qatari liquefied natural gas exports, excluding damaged facilities, to return to normal until early next year at the earliest.

British Airways has cancelled more than 190 flights today because of yesterday's Nats outage.

The technical issue has been resolved, but there is still chaos at UK airports.