Local MEP Visits Air Traffic Control Centre: 'No Glitches This Year'

9.00.00am UTC (GMT +0000) Wed 7th May 2003

Chris Huhne, the Liberal Democrat MEP for Hampshire, has been assured that there should be no long delays for air passengers during the summer peak this year due to air traffic control problems.

During a visit to the Swanwick Air Traffic Control centre, which handles air traffic over all the key London and South East airports, Mr Huhne met general manager Paul Louden and key senior staff.

Mr Huhne said: 'I was pleased to hear that the centre now believes that the computer failures that caused so much aggravation for airport passengers last summer have been sorted out. I was assured that the computer system should not crash as it did, forcing controllers to handle flights manually and much more slowly. There should be no more glitches this year.

'I heard that the problem was caused by the so-called 'Irish gap' - a part of air space controlled by the Republic which many transatlantic flights enter from UK airspace and then leave again into UK airspace. The computer was not distinguishing which bit of UK airspace the planes were coming into, setting up a dangerous loop and crash in the system' Mr Huhne said. 'This has now been resolved'.

Mr Huhne also discussed the problems of long term traffic growth with Mr Louden. Air movements in the London area are projected to go from 1.8 million movements a year to 2 million this year, and 3 million by 2011. Mr Huhne was also keen to hear of the plans for increased European cooperation to simplify and streamline air traffic control under what is called the 'single sky initiative'.

'European countries have more than 45 different air traffic control centres compared with just five or six for the whole of the United States. Inevitably, this leads to inefficiency and misunderstandings so the idea of consolidation and cooperation makes a lot of sense' Mr Huhne said.

ENDS