Two NATS Failures, One Review
The CAA's review of September's NATS outages reports in early 2027. Meanwhile, clients get duty of care but probably no cash compensation. Brief clients before half-term.
Clients hit by September’s air traffic control failures should expect care and rerouting, not cash. The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) says the 21 September NATS disruption counts as “extraordinary circumstances”, so passengers are “unlikely to be entitled to compensation” for delays or cancellations it caused directly.
The first failure, on Tuesday 8 September, was a software defect in NATS’ flight data system. NATS says restrictions ran for about six hours and the backlog took more than two days to clear. The CAA puts the toll at more than 2,000 flights delayed, cancelled or diverted. A second technical issue at the Prestwick centre on 21 September mainly hit northern UK airports.
At Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander’s request, the CAA is running an independent review covering NATS’ modernisation, contingency planning, earlier recommendations and its own oversight, including the 21 September incident. An initial report is due at the end of January 2027 and the final report on 8 March 2027.
ABTA called it the second NATS incident in a fortnight and the fourth in recent years, and asked the government to consider whether NATS should compensate the wider industry.
For advisors
- Duty of care still applies: airlines must offer refunds or rerouting, meals and hotels, and repay reasonable costs promptly. Tell clients to keep their receipts.
- For half-term and Christmas departures, build longer connections on self-built itineraries and favour packages, where the operator handles any disruption.
- Watch the January report.
Sources
Jeff Cameron is a chief operating officer who writes about the business of travel: operations, pricing, loyalty and the decisions behind the trips, seen through an executive lens.