Air Traffic Control: Government Rules Out Cyber Attack

August 29, 2023 27

The air traffic control issue that led to widespread disruption to UK air travel was not caused by a cyber-attack, the UK government has said.

More than a quarter of all UK flights were axed on Monday after a fault with National Air Traffic Services.

Delays and cancellations are continuing on Tuesday, as passengers scramble to get on flights.

The PM’s official spokesperson said the incident will now be investigated by the Civil Aviation Authority.

“The information we have is that there was not a cyber-attack,” they added.

“The exact cause of the technical incident will be subject to the investigation by the Civil Aviation Authority and then submitted to the government.”

Earlier, Transport Secretary Mark Harper said it will take “some days to get completely everybody to where they should be”, after thousands of people were left stranded by the technical glitch.

“The last time there was something this significant was about a decade ago,” Mr Harper told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme on Tuesday morning.

He admitted the timing “was not at all helpful for people” – but that “those people in government who look at these things have looked at it and are clear that it wasn’t a cyber attack”.

Aviation data firm Cirium said that as of 9:00 BST on Tuesday, 147, or 5%, of UK departing flights had been cancelled as well as 134, or 5%, of arrivals.

Passengers have recounted how they faced huge disruption as air traffic control had to input routes manually, rather than automatically, because of the fault.

Katrina Harrison and her family – including one-year-old twin grandchildren – spent the night at Leeds Bradford Airport after their flight to Antalya was cancelled on Monday afternoon.

BBC

Written by: Glory Igwe

ATTACK Cyber Government OUT RULES