A technical glitch caused chaos for seven lakh air travellers in the United Kingdom during a bank holiday weekend in August last year. The issue started when the corrupted file caused a breakdown in flight processing systems. This led to widespread flight cancellations, leaving travellers stuck at airports for hours, the NY Post reported. The problem grew, as some engineers were working from home that day, and were unable to address the issue remotely on time. An investigation revealed that a critical delay in resolving the issue was caused by difficulties in authenticating a remote engineer’s password credentials.
The glitch began early on August 28, 2023, and grounded flights nationwide. National Air Traffic Services (NATS) had arranged for a Level 2 engineer to be available on call, but not on-site, despite it being an exceptionally busy travel day. A Level 1 engineer, who was present at NATS’ Swanwick facility in Hampshire, immediately began diagnostic procedures after the systems failed at 8:32 AM. However, the engineer struggled to resolve the issue because the senior technical support engineer was working remotely.
The remote engineer’s attempts to log in and fix the issue were delayed after password authentication issues prevented timely access to the system. It took an hour and a half for the engineers to arrive at the airport, but they still couldn’t resolve the problem right away. The glitch wasn’t fully fixed until four hours after it was first detected but not before causing disruptions to flight schedules that stretched for several days.
The ripple effect of the disruption forced airlines to pay out over $126 million in compensation to affected travellers. The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), which conducted the inquiry, has recommended 48 new policy measures, including the need for senior engineers to be available on-site during critical times, even when remote work is an option.