London, Thanasis Gavos

In flight data submitted to the British Air Traffic Service containing incorrect security information due to the technical problem that has caused chaos in air transport since Monday morning.

In a statement on Tuesday evening, the chief executive of Britain’s National Air Traffic Service (Nats) Mark Rolfe explained that the download of the specific flight data caused the response of the primary and backup control systemsi.e. the suspension of automatic data processing.

“Very occasionally technical issues arise that are complex and take longer to resolve. In cases of such an issue our systems are designed to isolate the problem and prioritize ongoing safe air traffic control.

“That’s what happened yesterday. At no time was UK airspace closed, but the number of flights decreased significantly. Initial investigations into the problem indicate that it is related to some of the flight data we received.

“Our systems, both primary and backup, responded by suspending automatic processing to ensure that incorrect safety-related information could not be presented to an air traffic controller or affect the rest of the air traffic system. There are no indications that this was a cyber attack,” Mr. Rolfe said.

He added that Nats has established procedures, overseen by the UK’s Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), for investigating incidents.

He also announced that a preliminary finding would be submitted to the transport minister on Monday and made public.

Earlier Transport Minister Mark Harper chaired a meeting with representatives of Nats, the CAA, airlines, airports and other stakeholders.

At the end of the meeting he warned that the problems with cancellations and delays will continue for the next few days.

He also announced the temporary granting of permission for flight departures from British airports throughout the night, in order to serve as soon as possible as many passengers as possible.

In total Monday and Tuesday were canceled at least 1,850 flights to and from UK airports.

easyJet, meanwhile, has announced that it will carry out five emergency “repatriation” flights of Britons the next three days from Spain, Portugal, Tunisia and Greece, specifically from Rhodes on Friday.