The UK’s Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) has set out the scope of its independent review into a system failure earlier this month, an incident which saw more than 2,000 flights being delayed, cancelled or diverted.
On September 25, 2026, announced the terms of reference for the review into the National Air Traffic Services (NATS) technical incident on September 8, 2026, including an assessment of the leadership.
In a preliminary report published by NATS on September 18, 2026, the organization claimed that the incident was caused by a “software defect in a small part of the National Airspace System (NAS), which underpins the management of UK airspace”.
Martin Rolfe, CEO of NATS, said: “This was a software issue in a specific part of our flight data system, that we have traced to a small subsection of coding. The issue has been identified and mitigation is in place while a permanent fix is safety tested and deployed.”
The CAA’s review will consider NATS’ report on the causes of disruption that day, seek to understand the impact on consumers and identify any additional actions needed to strengthen confidence in the resilience of the UK’s air traffic management system in the future.
The CAA will consider:
- NATS’ strategy and plans for the renewal, replacement and modernization of critical operational systems, including how business continuity plans could be improved for existing systems and how well NATS is set to deliver modernization of those systems;
- How well the recommendations from previous reviews have been implemented;
- The effectiveness of the CAA’s regulatory oversight arrangements;
- Lessons that could be drawn from international best practice, including any relating to resilience and recovery from significant disruption.
The 11-page document published by the CAA stated that the review will “assess whether NATS has established a credible, appropriately governed and deliverable approach to the renewal of critical air traffic management infrastructure”.
This includes assessing whether or not it “possesses the organizational capability, capacity and leadership necessary to deliver and sustain the changes required to support resilient, reliable and sustainable UK air traffic management system over the coming decade”.
On September 9, 2026, Ryanair said that Rolfe “should be sacked and replaced with someone competent to run the UK ATC system and to prevent repeated collapses of UK ATC and its non-existent back-up systems”.
An initial CAA report will be provided to the Secretary of Transport Heidi Alexander, who ordered the review, by the end of January 2027. The final report will be provided by March 8, 2027.
An “independent challenge panel,” whose members will be appointed by the CAA and approved by the Secretary of State, will “provide robust expert challenge and advice”.
The review will also be informed by other similar events, including the incident on September 21, 2026, involving a “technical issue” at the NATS center in Prestwick.