The CAA’s independent review panel asked Transport Focus to speak with those who were impacted by the disruption caused by the NATS outage at the end of 2023, and to apply their experience to this specific situation.

Define supported this exercise by conducting qualitative research with those impacted by the issues.

Transport Focus used the findings in their report to provide a sense of the impact of the incident on the passengers who were affected, how airlines and airports could have improved that experience and how the experience of air passengers compares with disruption on other modes of transport.

Their summary report of the research was included as an appendix to the panel’s final report to the CAA and can be found here: https://d3cez36w5wymxj.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/14094714/The-passenger-experience-resulting-from-the-NATS-outage-in-August-2023.pdf

Our original findings are also published on the Transport Focus website: https://d3cez36w5wymxj.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/14094851/Transport-Focus-NATS-outage-consumer-impact-research-agency-report.pdf