Bristol Airport passengers faced fresh cancellations on Wednesday morning, 9 September, as Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander summoned NATS chief executive Martin Rolfe to explain the air traffic control failure that grounded flights nationwide a day earlier.
Five flights to and from Bristol Airport had been cancelled by mid-morning on Wednesday, according to Devon Live, with some overnight delayed flights still working through the schedule. It followed a fault in NATS's flight processing system at its Swanwick control centre in Hampshire that halted departures across the UK network from around 12:48pm on Tuesday, contributing to roughly 1,300 cancellations nationally, according to Flightradar24 data cited by the Independent.
NATS said in an official statement that it "identified that the issue was in our flight processing system" and had "implemented a fix" by 4:40pm on Tuesday, but warned that "recovery will take some time." Bristol Airport had advised passengers to check with their airline before travelling, and confirmed both arrivals and departures were affected before the fix took hold.
Speaking to BBC Radio 4's Today programme on Wednesday, Rolfe apologised for the disruption and ruled out a cyber attack as the cause, telling reporters, according to Devon Live: "I don't believe we've ever seen an incident happen more than once, so this will be something different that we've never seen in 50 years of operation." He said a "very, very thorough investigation" would follow, but that his immediate focus remained on clearing the backlog.
Alexander is due to speak with Rolfe on Wednesday before addressing MPs in the Commons for the second reading of the Civil Aviation Bill, the Independent reported. Ryanair and Wizz Air have separately called for Rolfe's resignation and reform of NATS, while the Civil Aviation Authority said it will require a full report from NATS on the incident.
Abta, the UK's largest travel trade association, said passengers with cancelled or delayed flights have rights that vary depending on how their trip was booked, and that its members would support affected customers.
What this means for your journey: if you're flying from Bristol Airport in the coming days, check your flight status directly with your airline before setting off, as knock-on delays from Tuesday's fault are still working through the schedule. If you're driving to collect or drop off a delayed passenger, see our /parking/ page for up-to-date options at the airport.