A “full independent review” into this week’s air traffic control failure has been demanded by the head of EasyJet.
Chief executive Johnan Lundgren said the incident – which wrecked the travel plans of around 250,000 people this week – “must not happen again”.
His intervention adds to growing criticism of National Air Traffic Services (Nats), with the cost to airlines estimated by Iata to top £100 million.
Flights to and from UK airports were restricted for several hours on bank holiday Monday afternoon as the air traffic control service was unable to process flight plans automatically.
Lundgren told the Press Association: “We have been absolutely focused this week on helping our customers impacted by the ATC failure return home.
“An incident of this scale should not have happened and must not happen again in the future.
“Passengers deserve to see a full independent review, which not only results in meaningful improvements to prevent an incident of this scale happening again but also considers a wide range of issues beyond this incident, including staffing levels required at Nats to deliver today’s flying and what modernisation is needed to deliver the flying of tomorrow.”
Nats said an “unusual piece of data” it received forced it to switch to manual checks on Monday, forcing mass flight delays and cancellations on one of the busiest travel days of the year, with knock-on effects felt throughout the week.
The air traffic control service is carrying out its own inquiry, with a preliminary report due to be sent to transport secretary Mark Harper on Monday.
Aviation industry leaders are due to meet Harper today (Friday) as the inquest continues into how the ATC failure was allowed to happen.
Iata director general and former boss of British Airways, Willie Walsh, has called for an overhaul of compensation rules following the air traffic control meltdown.
He said that Nats had “crucial questions to answer” about its responsibility for the “fiasco” which led to more than 1,600 flights being cancelled and many more delayed.