UK air traffic failure blamed on ‘extremely rare’ circumstances as CAA opens inquiry

Technical report confirms error triggered by flight plan caused chaos last week as more than 2,000 flights cancelled

The UK air traffic system failure that resulted in more than 2,000 flights being cancelled has been blamed on an extremely rare set of circumstances", as the aviation regulator opened an inquiry into the meltdown that caused chaos for passengers.

The Civil Aviation Authority announced its own independent review as it submitted an initial report from Nats, the air traffic control services provider, into the incident to the transport secretary, Mark Harper.