Ministry of Defence denies ‘military jet error’ caused flights to be cancelled at Leeds Bradford Airport
Leeds Bradford Airport was hit by delays and cancellations on Tuesday ⚠️
The Ministry of Defence has denied reports that a ‘military jet error’ caused widespread air traffic control disruption which saw flights cancelled in Leeds.
It had been claimed that data entered by a military jet was behind the ATC system failure which threw airports across the UK this week.
Leeds Bradford Airport was among those impacted by a technical issue at National Air Traffic Services (Nats) on Tuesday (September 8). It resulted in the cancellation of flights and delays.
The Yorkshire Evening Post reported on the day that passengers were being advised at that time to check before they travelled. In a statement, a spokesperson for LBA said: “The air traffic control service, NATS, is experiencing a technical issue which is impacting flights at airports across the UK, including at LBA.
“Passengers are advised to check with their airline for the latest flight information. LBA is working alongside its airline partners to ensure customers are on the move before close of day.”
Flights were delayed at LBA on Tuesday and there were even a handful of cancellations. It impacted airlines flying from the airport including EasyJet, Jet2, and Ryanair.
Across the UK, the disruption continued into Wednesday (September 9).
The Financial Times reported on Friday (September 11) that it had been told by four sources that a flight plan submitted by a military aircraft triggered events that led to the outage. It claimed the entry caused a glitch within the wider air traffic control system that took hours to restart.
In response to the report, an MOD spokesperson said: “We do not believe there’s any indication of an error on the part of the military.
“Because it’s subject to a live Nats investigation, which is expected to conclude next week, it would be inappropriate for us to comment any further while that investigation is ongoing.”
A Nats spokesperson said: “We are continuing to investigate the underlying cause. It would be wrong to speculate while that work continues, and a full technical investigation will follow.”
The disruption has prompted calls for Martin Rolfe, chief executive of Nats, to resign. Mr Rolfe apologised for the incident, which he said he took “full responsibility” for.