§ Mr. BradyTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what actions were taken by(a) his Department and (b) NATS between 9 June and 17 June in order to ensure that the breakdown on 9 June was not repeated. [127239]
§ Mr. MullinFollowing the computer problem at West Drayton on 9 June, the Department urgently requested: information from National Air Traffic Services Ltd. (NATS) on the nature and cause of the problem; and reassurance that immediate steps were being taken to rectify the fault to ensure that it would not happen again. When a further computer problem occurred on 17 June NATS contacted the Department with detailed information on this incident and the remedial action being taken.
NATS has advised that the causes of the failures were two unrelated application software design faults triggered in established and hitherto correctly functioning systems. The incident on 9 June was traced to an application code which failed to correctly process an unusual flight plan dealing with a flight to Hamburg which required complex co-ordination with an adjacent air traffic control centre (Copenhagen). Immediate action was taken to issue an operational procedure to all units affected not to file flight plans which could cause this problem.
The failure on 17 June resulted from a latent design fault in the flight strip printing system. The failure was cleared by reverting to a previous version of the software and as an additional precautionary measure a system message has been input which actively prevents the system from exercising the faulty code sequence.
As a permanent solution NATS is producing design fixes for both faults. These are currently undergoing test and assurance processes with NATS' operational engineering staff as a matter of high priority.
§ Mr. LeslieTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions when his Department's latest Air Traffic Forecasts will be published. [127814]
§ Mr. MullinThe air traffic forecasts referred to are published by my Department every three years and reflect the intention to monitor air traffic developments and to keep assumptions and methodologies under review.
247WI have now approved the revised forecasts and agreed to their publication. Copies have been placed in the House Libraries and will shortly be on the DETR website.