Air traffic control boss given a week to report after UK flight chaos causes 2,000 cancellations

Passengers at Heathrow airport on Wednesday morning. Photograph: Jonathan Brady/PA View image in fullscreen Passengers at Heathrow airport on Wednesday morning. Photograph: Jonathan Brady/PA Air traffic control boss given a week to report after UK flight chaos causes 2,000 cancellations Government remains confident in under-pressure Martin Rolfe but transport secretary believes glitch was avoidable How have you been affected ? The head of the air traffic control provider Nats has been given a week to report back on the reasons for a technical failure that grounded thousands of flights, as the transport secretary said she did “not believe the issue was unavoidable”. Heidi Alexander said on Tuesday she had also commissioned an independent review (CAA) into the latest Nats meltdown, which severely disrupted travel for hundreds of thousands of passengers. The comments will pile pressure on the Nats chief executive, Martin Rolfe, despite Downing Street saying the government still had confidence in him after a morning meeting with Alexander, and as the number of flight cancellations passed 2,000. The minister told the Commons: “Safety must remain air traffic controllers’ overriding priority, and this morning I have spoken to Nats chief executive, Martin Rolfe, who informed me this outage was due to a technical issue at their Swanwick site. “So, while my understanding from Nats is that we can rule out a cyber-attack on this occasion, I do not believe this issue was unavoidable.” The CAA said passengers were “unlikely to be entitled to compensation for delays and cancellations” as the problem was likely to be considered the result of “extraordinary circumstances”. View image in fullscreen Heidi Alexander, who said she would ‘leave absolutely no stone unturned in understanding what has happened here’. Photograph: Isabel Infantes/ReutersAirlines have urged action, with Rolfe facing increasing pressure to quit, after the third large-scale stoppage to flights in just over three years. Latest industry estimates say about 330,000 passengers had their travel disrupted and delayed, with many stuck on grounded planes for hours during the incident . Other passengers were stranded overnight at airports in the UK and abroad. More than 155,000 passengers had flights cancelled, while flights were delayed for more than 180,000 passengers. A Downing Street spokesperson earlier said Alexander had asked Rolfe to “carry out a full investigation into what happened to make sure that lessons are learned, so that this doesn’t happen again”. Tell us: how have you been affected ? Alexander said she would “leave absolutely no stone unturned in understanding what has happened here, and what can be done to drastically reduce the likelihood of something like this ever happening again. “I do think we need to ask tough questions about the resilience of Nat systems … We also need to think about consumer redress issues as well.” The prime minister’s spokesperson added: “We have confidence in him and he’s been tasked with the investigation, which will report in a week’s time.” Airlines including Ryanair and Wizz called for Rolfe to resign or be sacked by Alexander.