Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment she has made of the potential financial impact of the disruption for passengers and travellers affected by the NATS failure in September, both (a) on those directly affected and (b) on the wider economy.

We are still in the process of understanding the impact of NATS outages across the UK. However, we recognise that disruption to air services can have consequences for passengers, businesses and regional connectivity, including for communities that rely on aviation links.

Therefore, we need to learn the lessons from what has happened to ensure that we can minimise the chance of disruption of this kind happening again.

The Secretary of State has commissioned the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) to lead an independent review of the NATS outage on 8 September and the separate technical issue that occurred in Prestwick on 21 September. The review will examine the causes of the incidents, broader questions relating to NATS' resilience, capital investment and modernisation plans, and the effectiveness of the CAA's regulatory oversight, helping to identify any lessons needed to strengthen the resilience of the UK air traffic management system.