The head of UK air traffic control provider NATS said officials have ruled out a cyber attack as the cause of major disruption at Heathrow, amid criticism from airlines over a third major failure in three years.
Key facts
- The head of NATS said a cyber attack has been ruled out as a cause.
- Major disruption hit Heathrow airport.
- Airlines criticised NATS following the incident.
- It is described as the third major failure in three years.
- The NATS chief spoke on Wednesday, according to CNBC.
The head of the UK’s air traffic control provider NATS has ruled out a cyber attack as the cause of major disruption at Heathrow airport, according to CNBC.
“We have at this point ruled out cyber,” the head of NATS said Wednesday, according to CNBC’s reporting on the incident.
The disruption prompted criticism from airlines, which slammed the organisation for what CNBC described as a third major failure in three years.
CNBC did not detail the specific cause of the latest disruption or the full scale of its impact on passengers and flights.
The comments came as scrutiny intensified over the reliability of the systems that underpin UK air travel, following repeated incidents affecting operations.
Why it matters
Air traffic control failures can ground flights and disrupt travel plans for large numbers of passengers, with knock-on costs for airlines. Ruling out a cyber attack narrows the focus to technical or operational causes, but repeated failures raise questions about the resilience of critical aviation infrastructure.