French Error Blamed for UK’s Air Control Meltdown Which Left 300,000 Passengers With Cancellations

What caused Monday’s glitch in the UK’s air traffic control system that left thousands of passengers stranded?

Wednesday the Independent reported that it may have been triggered by “an incorrectly filed flight plan by a French airline.”

Several sources say the issue may have been caused when a French airline filed a dodgy flight plan that made no digital sense. Instead of the error being rejected, it prompted a shutdown of the entire National Air Traffic Services (Nats) system — raising questions over how one clerical error could cause such mayhem… Downing Street has launched an independent review into the incident, which caused more than a quarter of flights at UK airports to be cancelled on Monday…

In his statement, Nats chief executive Martin Rolfe said Nats’ systems, both primary and the back-ups, responded to the incorrect flight data by suspending automatic processing “to ensure that no incorrect safety-related information could be presented to an air traffic controller or impact the rest of the air traffic system”.
The article also points out that “Passengers hit by the air traffic control meltdown face being stranded abroad for up to a week.”

Around 300,000 airline passengers have now been hit by flight cancellations since the hours-long failure of the Nats system on bank holiday Monday. The knock-on effect is set to last for several more days, as under-pressure airlines battle the backlog in a week where millions are already returning to the UK from their summer holidays.
Thanks to Slashdot reader Bruce66423 for sharing the article.