Holidays destroyed. Business meetings missed. Passengers sleeping on the floor with no word as to when they might finally board a flight. If the casual observer were looking for yet another example of “broken Britain”, then the collapse of the air traffic control system offers proof aplenty.
More than two thousand flights in and out of UK airports have been lost, and counting. The busiest have been hit hardest. The overwhelming impression is not only one of massive technical failure, but one where the authorities – NATS Holdings, the transport department and the airlines (part owners of NATS) – have themselves lost control of the situation and are out of their depth.
