The Civil Aviation Authority has launched an independent inquiry into an air traffic control glitch that closed London air space on Friday.
Cancellations were continuing over the weekend as airlines struggled to get back to normal after the 36 minute air space closure.
But passengers were told there is unlikely to be compensation.
A Civil Aviation Authority spokesman told the Times that airlines had a duty to look after passengers while they were in the terminal but they would not have to make a financial payment because ‘it’s something the airlines can’t do anything about’.
The CAA says it will appoint an independent chair of the panel which will consist of NATS technical experts, a board member from the CAA and independent experts on information technology, air traffic management and operational resilience.
The full terms of reference will be published after consultation with airlines and consumer groups but will include looking at the root causes of the system failure, NATS’ handling of the incident, a review on the service levels expected due to international benchmarks and other measures to avoid technology or process failures in the future.
Business secretary Vince Cable has accused the air traffic service of ‘skimping on large scale investment.
He told the BBC that NATS was running ‘on ancient computer systems, which then crash’.
NATS chief executive Richard Deakin said the problem on Friday was caused by a single faulty line of code in one computer system.
The recent NATS problems come a year after a telephone failure at Swanwick caused huge disruption.
