Air traffic failure was avoidable, says transport secretary

A technical failure of the UK's air traffic control system that has caused widespread flight chaos was avoidable, according to the Transport Secretary.

Heidi Alexander told the Commons she had ordered an independent investigation by the aviation watchdog into the system operated by Nats, which went down for four hours on Tuesday.

More than 2,000 flights have been cancelled as disruption continued for a second day with passengers stuggling to fly out of and into the UK .

After meeting with the boss of Nats, Martin Rolfe, Alexander said a cyberattack could be ruled out, but she added: "I do not believe this issue was unavoidable."

Nats has apologised for its third major technical fault in three years.

Alexander said she discussed with Rolfe how Nats, which is 49% owned by the government, "responded to resolve and minimise the disruption as quickly as possible".

She said there had to be "tough questions about resilience of Nats systems", adding: "We also need to think about consumer redress issues."

Earlier on Wednesday the government said it had confidence in Rolfe, who has led Nats for 11 years as airlines such as Wizz Air and Ryanair called for him to step down.