We can avoid flight chaos in future, says air traffic boss

Martin Rolfe, the head of National Air Traffic Services (Nats) has said the flight chaos caused by a computer glitch should not happen again. 

Speaking to the BBC, Rolfe said measures were in place to protect against the “incredibly rare” system failure which has left hundreds of fights cancelled. “If that happens again, we can resolve it very, very quickly,” he said.

Thousands of passengers have been stranded and many forced to sleep on airport floors, as delays and cancellations are expected to continue for days.

Passengers have been left out of pocket after having to arrange alternative travel and accommodation following more than 1,500 flights cancelled on Monday. 

On Tuesday, the cancellations and delays continued despite the air traffic control issue being fixed as the disruption had left planes and pilots out of place.