§ Mrs. DunwoodyTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions if he will list for each month for the last 12 months the dates and times that the air traffic control centre at West Drayton failed, together with the length of the system failure, the estimated number of aircraft involved and the reason for the failure. [23197]
§ Ms Glenda JacksonNational Air Traffic Services Ltd., who are responsible for operations at the London Area and Terminal Control Centre (LATCC) at West Drayton, inform me that there were no system failures within the last 12 months.
There were, however, two engineering related occurrences which resulted in short term capacity reductions. Neither incident resulted in a degradation of safety levels.
On 5 August 1997 two sectors at LATCC had to be temporarily combined following reports of an electrical problem on one of the consoles. The duration of the incident
Heathrow 1997 Take-offs Landings Total Number delayed Percentage delayed Total Number delayed Percentage delayed January 18,085 1,522 8.4 18,095 2,671 14.8 February 16,680 1,195 7.2 16,679 3,557 21.3 March 18,333 1,904 10.4 18,328 3,394 18.5 April 18,148 2,293 12.6 18,151 4,098 22.6 May 18,845 3,657 19.4 18,806 4,923 26.2 June 18,589 4,311 23.2 18,597 5,598 30.1 July 18,389 3,806 20.7 18,403 4,179 22.7 August 18,243 3,326 18.2 19,223 3,975 20.7 September 18,750 3,390 18.1 18,748 3,891 20.8 October 19,171 3,301 17.2 19,151 4,640 24.2 November 17,932 2,159 12.0 17,968 2,494 13.9 December 17,706 1,656 9.4 17,687 2,125 12.0 Total 218,871 32,520 14.9 219,836 45,545 20.7 542W
Gatwick 1997 Take-offs Landings Total Number delayed Percentage delayed Total Number delayed Percentage delayed January 8,370 225 2.7 8,329 878 10.5 February 7,810 249 3.2 7,775 592 7.6 March 9,132 287 3.1 9,138 929 10.2 April 9,351 278 3.0 9,347 921 9.9 May 10,756 926 8.6 10,751 1,335 12.4 June 10,723 1,061 9.9 10,693 1,534 14.3 July 11,378 968 8.5 11,338 1,321 11.7 August 11,688 879 7.5 11,687 1,271 10.9 September 11,159 794 7.1 11,167 1,164 10.4 October 10,798 602 5.6 10,791 1,183 11.0 November 8,946 470 5.3 8,957 619 6.9 December 9,091 358 3.9 9,080 405 4.5 Total 119.202 7,097 5.9 119,053 12,152 10.2 was 148 minutes and no flights were delayed by more than 30 minutes. On 2 September a software problem caused a partial system failure lasting 68 minutes—24 flights were held up for over an hour, and 107 flights for between 30 and 59 minutes. Statistics for flights delayed by less than 30 minutes are not kept for performance review purposes because such delays could be attributable to a range of factors, not just air traffic control problems.
§ Mrs. DunwoodyTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions if he will list for each month for the last 12 months the number of aircraft delayed in(a) taking off and (b) landing as a result of air traffic control delays at (i) Heathrow Airport and (ii) Gatwick Airport. [23198]
§ Ms Glenda JacksonNational Air Traffic Services Ltd., who are responsible for Air Traffic Control operations at Heathrow and Gatwick, have provided the following statistics relating to the total number of flights, and the number and percentage experiencing delays on take-off and landing at the two airports for each of the past twelve months. It should be noted that these statistics relate to flight delays on departure and arrival for whatever reason (e.g. weather, runway capacity, late passengers, as well as Air Traffic Control). A breakdown to show delays exclusively attributable to Air Traffic Control could be provided only at disproportionate cost.