The boss of Ryanair Group, Michael O’Leary, claims air traffic control provider Nats has a “moral obligation” to reimburse its airline customers following the IT system outage last week.
Thousands of passengers were stranded as many flights in and out of the UK were delayed or cancelled on bank holiday Monday (August 28).
Nats’ preliminary report was released on Wednesday morning, showing that an anomaly forced the system to stop processing flight plans.
The report also noted: “It is not within Nats’ remit to address any wider questions arising from the incident such as cost reimbursement and compensation for the associated disruption.”
More: CAA to hold independent review into air traffic system meltdown
Nats meltdown prompts call for overhaul of compensation rules
O’Leary said Ryanair pays Nats almost €100 million a year for the ATC service, adding: “The least Nats could and should do is to reimburse its airline customers for the tens of millions of pounds they have spent reimbursing passengers for their hotel, meals and transport expenses, which were entirely due to Nats’ system failure, and Nats back-up system failure on August 28.
“If Nats fail to reimburse its customers for these expenses, then secretary of transport Mark Harper should intervene – as the largest shareholder in Nats – and instruct Nats to reimburse Nats airline customers for these right to care expenses.”
Speaking in a video message, O’Leary disputed figures in the report about the disruption and criticised the fact that Nats’ second line engineering team was using remote supporting technology to reduce travel time.
He said: “We suffered over 370 flight cancellations – over 63,000 passengers – and more than 1,500 flight delays over the two days (August 28-29).
“This whitewash report, which understates the number of flight cancellations and flight delays, fails to explain why one inaccurate flight plan brought down not just the Nats ATC system, but also the back-up system.
“Nats should explain why its back-up system failed, and what they are doing to introduce an effective back-up system, rather than the rubbish they have at the moment.”
The report said the IT shutdown was triggered by a single flight plan featuring two separate waypoints which – although geographically distant – had identical designators.
Commenting on Ryanair’s criticism, a spokesperson for Nats said: “We stand by our report which clearly explains the root cause, how our operation was recovered safely and the solution that is now in place to ensure it cannot happen again.
“It is a preliminary report that makes clear the areas we continue to look at.”
The aviation regulator, the Civil Aviation Authority, is to hold an independent review into the ATC system meltdown, which airlines say cost them £100 million.
O’Leary’s comments echo those of Iata director-general Willie Walsh, who has also called for reform of compensation rules.
Walsh insisted that if Nats is fined, the costs should not be passed onto airlines, and passenger compensation rules should ensure that those responsible for delays and cancellations bear the costs.
Nats is a public-private partnership between the Airline Group, which holds 42%; Nats staff who hold 5%; Heathrow airport operator LHR Airports Limited with 4%; and the government which holds 49% (the golden share).
The airline group includes carriers such as British Airways, easyJet, Virgin Atlantic and Tui Airways.