Air Traffic Control Disruption Debate
Full Debate: Read Full DebateDepartment: Department for Transport
Liz Jarvis
Main Page: Liz Jarvis (Liberal Democrat - Eastleigh)Department Debates - View all Liz Jarvis's debates with the Department for Transport
(2 weeks, 4 days ago)
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Keir Mather
Allow me to reassure the hon. Member that the civil aviation air traffic control systems and those used by the military and the Ministry of Defence are separate. However, it is right to say that our air traffic control for civil aviation is a foundation of the resilience of our aviation sector, and an enormous amount of economic growth is dependent on that sector functioning effectively, whether that be through air freight, the movement of business travellers to where they need to go, or facilitating the UK tourism industry. That is why it is so important that lessons are learned from this incident, and that we identify how we can minimise impacts on our national resilience in future.
Liz Jarvis (Eastleigh) (LD)
NATS is a significant local employer for my constituents, and I put on record my thanks to the engineers and controllers who worked hard to restore the system and keep passengers safe. However, this is the third such collapse in three years, and all employees who work for NATS, as well as the airports, airlines and passengers who rely on it, deserve better. What steps is the Minister taking to ensure that a genuinely effective back-up system is in place, so that we are not back here again in another two years?