Jet2 urges overhaul of NATS after thousands stranded by control system glitch

A technical glitch in the system operated by one outlet Air Traffic Services triggered widespread flight cancellations across the UK last week, affecting more than 2,000 scheduled services. Jet2 reported that roughly 7,200 of its customers required repatriation support, prompting the carrier to automatically issue full refunds for all cancelled flights and package holidays. To restore its schedule, Jet2 deployed additional aircraft, arranged over a dozen extra flights, and provided ground transport and hotel accommodation for stranded passengers returning from Greece, Turkey, Spain and Malta.

CEO Steve Heapy described the outage as a failure of critical national infrastructure and called for immediate improvements, highlighting the government’s 49 percent ownership of NATS. The airline emphasized its staff’s round-the-clock effort to assist affected travellers. NATS director Martin Rolfe is slated to publish a report on the incident later this week.