{"id":9640,"date":"2023-10-29T06:19:51","date_gmt":"2023-10-29T06:19:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/aviation-news.info\/?p=9640"},"modified":"2023-10-29T06:19:51","modified_gmt":"2023-10-29T06:19:51","slug":"fury-over-higher-air-traffic-charges-after-it-meltdown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/aviation-news.info\/?p=9640","title":{"rendered":"Fury over higher air traffic charges after IT meltdown"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Airlines have reacted with fury and warned passengers will face higher fares after the UK’s aviation regulator increased air traffic control charges.<\/b><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The costs, paid by airlines, come after a UK air traffic control meltdown in August which led to long flight delays and left thousands stranded.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The fee will rise from \u00a347 to \u00a364 per flight until 2027, representing an increase of around 43p per passenger.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Airlines said the increases “cannot be justified” given the recent disruption.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Tim Alderslade, chief executive of industry body Airlines UK, said the hike in charges was “yet another kick in the teeth for passengers who have been plagued by issues this summer including the August Nats [National Air Traffic Services] IT failure”.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The group, which represents carriers including British Airways, EasyJet, Jet2, Ryanair, Virgin Atlantic and Tui, said passengers would “inevitably end up footing the bill of millions of pounds for increases”.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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“It is clear that a wider independent review into how Nats is regulated is needed to protect passengers and ensure that airlines are not always forced to act as the insurer of last resort and bear millions of pounds of costs for failures that are not their fault,” he added.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Ryanair chief executive Michael O’Leary said the airline was “astonished” at the CAA’s “illogical” decision to increase charges, and called for it to be reversed.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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He said no increase should be made “until Nats delivers the service it is already being paid for”, adding that “further price increases which will only go to fund more undeserved dividends to its shareholders”.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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In August, around 2,000 flights at airports across the UK were cancelled when the National Air Traffic Services system for automatically processing flight plans failed, leaving passengers stranded.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Some people slept on airport floors or in makeshift beds, while many scrambled to rebook flights.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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During the IT meltdown, airlines incurred huge costs to provide accommodation and put on more flights for customers who were stuck overseas. Some airlines, including Ryanair, have called for such costs to be covered by Nats.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Nats apologised for the disruption and has said measures have been put in place to protect against the “incredibly rare” system failure from happening again.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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But an aviation industry source told the BBC Nats had confirmed it would not directly reimburse airlines for the costs they incurred as a result of the technical failure in August.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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