Airline passengers will benefit from tougher enforcement of consumer protection laws following an investigation into the August 2023 air traffic control (ATC) collapse, Transport Secretary Louise Haigh has said .

The minister said she wanted to ensure “all passengers feel confident when they fly”.

More than 700,000 passengers suffered disruption when flights were grounded at UK airports on August 28 last year, after ATC provider National Air Traffic Services (Nats) suffered a technical problem processing a flight plan.

An investigation into what happened found that a number of travelers waited “several weeks, and in some cases months” for airlines to reimburse their expenses.

It recommended that the regulator, the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), should have the power to “take enforcement action against consumers” without going to court.

This could include the possibility of imposing fines, which would bring it in line with regulators in some other sectors.

Ms Haigh said: “The Nats IT failure last year was an unprecedented event which we all hope will never happen again. I therefore welcome the final report and its recommendations aimed at strengthening the sector and restoring passenger confidence.

“I have already said that I will be the chief passenger and that my priority is to ensure that all passengers feel confident when they fly.

“That is why my department will seek to introduce reforms, where possible, to provide air travelers with the highest possible level of protection.”

The CAA’s inability to impose fines means it is forced to take airlines to court if they fail to respond to enforcement measures, meaning short-term resolutions are unlikely.

Under the Conservative government, in June last year, the Department for Transport outlined plans to give the CAA “stronger enforcement powers”, but no legislation on the issue was brought before Parliament.

A total of 34 recommendations were made as part of the inquiry into the August 2023 failure, set up by the CAA and led by Jeff Halliwell, who served as chief executive and non-executive director in the private and public sectors.

Nats should notify airlines and airports earlier of possible disruptions and review its emergency arrangements, the final report said.

Airlines and airports should review the “adequacy” of support offered to passengers in the event of significant disruption, particularly those who are vulnerable or traveling with children, the document said.

Other recommendations include the CAA reviewing how Nats work is incentivized.

Mr Halliwell said: “The incident on 28 August 2023 represented a major failure of the air traffic control system, which caused significant distress to more than 700,000 air passengers and resulted in substantial costs for airlines and airports.

“Our report sets out a number of recommendations aimed at improving Nats’ operations and, more importantly, ways in which the aviation sector as a whole should work more closely together to ensure that, should such a situation arise again , passengers are better looked after.

CAA chief executive Rob Bishton said: “This final report gets to the heart of what went wrong in August 2023 and sets out a number of recommendations that have sector-wide significance.

“It is essential that we learn lessons from any major incident like this. »