The Situation of Air Traffic Control Outage

On the afternoon of the 28th of August (UK bank holiday), the UK Air Traffic Control system experienced an outage, whereby their primary and backup systems shut down, leading to wholesale flight cancellations and delays for travellers. The displacement of aircraft meant the disruption continued over the course of a week.

Although there was strong media coverage reporting on the issues of flights that were grounded and cancelled across the UK, there was very little detailed information available initially, with notifications not being received through airlines’ usual channels, as would be normal for cancellations and changes.

Our out-of-hours team received approx. 700 extra customer enquiries during the initial phase of the incident.

Our Solution Of Air Traffic Control Outage

  • Our Operations team immediately implemented “scans” to identify impacted individuals or groups.
  • Due to the number of bookings affected, we increased call and email capacity across our Global Operations teams.
  • In addition to a core rota, we have staff who volunteer to be contacted in a crisis with whom we engaged to provide additional support.
  • Shift patterns were amended and additional 24/7 agents were brought into support for the week, as the length of the disruption was unknown.
  • Our Operations team was split into two areas: emergency calls and business as usual.
  • Customers were called and emailed in date order of travel. The email was given a specific title with the advice to respond to the email if support was needed. Reports were built to manage the workflow and track progress.
  • All social media channels were updated.
  • Airline policies on our intranet were collated for all to use, as airline phone lines were overwhelmed.

 The Results

  • All passengers were contacted on the 28th of August (bank holiday)
  • Regular updates were provided on social media and via the KT teams for the week.
  • Passengers were provided with information of where to go to check for flight updates.
  • Passengers were rebooked, refunded and fully supported, with alternatives for travel.