Flight chaos ‘not a hack’ says minister as disruption continues

UK minister: airport disruption to continue

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Mark Harper, the UK’s transport secretary, has said analysis by the UK’s cyber security authorities suggested that yesterday’s air traffic control systems failure was not caused by a computer hack, amid continued disruption.

The number of planes in UK airspace was severely limited for hours on Monday after the flight planning system at National Air Traffic Services, the private company that manages flights in the UK, suffered a technical issue.

Speaking this morning to BBC radio’s Today programme, Harper said cyber authorities had ruled out external actors as a cause, although he declined to give details of what caused the failure beyond saying there was a “technical issue yesterday morning with the flight planning system”. He said:

Those people in government who look at these things have looked at it and they are clear it wasn’t a cyber attack.

Harper apologised to people affected by the disruption, which he said will continue through Tuesday as airlines try to get people back to where they were scheduled to be.

The problem was fixed yesterday afternoon, but the impact of it will continue today. There are some flights obviously not where they should be, and airlines are working very hard now to get their customers back in the position they should be.

Airlines do have a responsibility, either to get people back on a flight to get them home, or to pay for them to be accommodated and to sort out food and drink as well. If they don’t do it then people can claim for reasonable costs themselves and then claim them back from the airlines.

Despite @NATS resolving the technical issue behind today’s air traffic control issues, flights are still unfortunately affected.

I’d encourage all passengers to read @UK_CAA’s guidance & be aware of their rights when flights are delayed or cancelled 👇 https://t.co/K4coeXbUCX

— Mark Harper (@Mark_J_Harper) August 28, 2023

It is a busy day on the UK’s transport agenda, as London’s ultra-low emission zone (Ulez) comes into force today. Owners of older and more polluting cars will have to pay £12.50 per day if they want to drive within the expanded zone.

The introduction of the zone has been fought furiously by some people who do not want to pay more, but the capital’s mayor, Sadiq Khan, has said the zone is necessary to reduce deadly air pollution.

The agenda

2pm BST: US S&P/Case-Shiller house price index (June; previous: -1.7% year-on-year; consensus: -1.3%)
3pm BST: US job opening and labor turnover (July; prev.: 9.582m openings; cons.: 9.465m)

Key events

Airport delays improving, but Heathrow still ‘excessive’

There are still significant delays at UK airports, but things appear to be improving, according to data website Flightstats.

It shows London Heathrow’s delay status as “excessive” – the highest level for the UK’s main airport hub.
London Gatwick and London Stansted are “significant and descreasing”.
Manchester is “excessive and decreasing”.
Glasgow and Edinburgh are “moderate and decreasing”.
Belfast International is “significant”.

Everywhere else in the UK appears to be low or very low, so most flights from regional airports – which are generally much less dependent on complicated schedules – now appear to be running as normal.

Here is the latest on the UK air travel situation from the Guardian’s Jamie Grierson:

Major UK airlines including Tui and BA warned of “significant delays” for passengers amid changes to schedules. Passengers were urged by airlines to check before they leave for the airport as their flight times may have changed.

Heathrow airport tweeted on Monday night: “We apologise for any inconvenience as a result of the Nats technical issues today. The issue has been resolved however schedules remain significantly disrupted. If you are travelling on 29th August, please ensure you contact your airline before travelling to the airport.”

You can read the full report on transport minister Mark Harper’s comments here:

Here are the snap readings at the European stock market open:

EUROPE’S STOXX 600 UP 0.6%
BRITAIN’S FTSE 100 UP 1.2%
FRANCE’S CAC 40 UP 0.3%, SPAIN’S IBEX UP 0.5%
EURO STOXX INDEX UP 0.4%; EURO ZONE BLUE CHIPS UP 0.3%
GERMANY’S DAX UP 0.3%

You can see from this that the FTSE 100 is still a bit of an outlier. That’s mainly because markets gained ground on Monday around the world in the aftermath of a speech on Friday by Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell. Powell did not rock the boat too hard in the speech, which hinted that there are probably higher rates ahead.

It was given at the central bankers’ summit at the Jackson Hole resort in Wyoming, which gives us an opportunity to look at central bankers’ summer gear: suits with no ties for the men, according to this family photo.

President of the European Central Bank Christine Lagarde, Bank of Japan governor Kazuo Ueda, and chair of the Federal Reserve Jerome Powell (left to right) speak in front of the Teton mountains during the Jackson Hole economic symposiumon 25 August. Photograph: Natalie Behring/Getty Images

The UK’s FTSE 100 stock index has jumped at the opening bell after returning from the bank holiday, in a catch-up move following strong gains in Asia and Wall Street.

In fact, the share prices of every single company in the benchmark index have risen in the opening trades – a relatively rare occurence. The index was up 1.3% in the first 10 minutes of trading.

The top gainer is packaging company Bunzl, which is up 3.5% after upgrading its profit forecast.