7 lakh passengers stranded due to password goof up of a software engineer, know the whole incident
A minor technical mistake by a junior work-from-home engineer in Britain has troubled millions of passengers. On the August 2023 bank holiday weekend, when airline services were at their peak, the incident left more than 700,000 passengers stranded at airports. This technical flaw caused a loss of more than 100 million pounds to UK airlines.
The root of the problem was the inability of a level 2 engineer to login to the computer. Investigations found that the problem was caused by a corrupt file, which was related to a flight scheduled for Paris. This remote engineer of Britain’s National Air Traffic Services (NATS) did not have the required password credentials, due to which he could not solve the problem.
The technical problem started at 8:32 am, when the automated flight planning system failed. The level 1 engineer working on-site immediately started investigating and was contacted by a remote level 2 engineer 34 minutes later. But due to the structure of the system, their login details could not be verified.
IT engineers arrived on site about one and a half hours later to resolve the problem, but the problem still persisted. In total, it took four hours to fix this technical glitch. Meanwhile, thousands of flights were either canceled or delayed.
The incident caused huge losses to passengers and airlines. More than 700,000 passengers were stranded at airports for several days. Airlines suffered a loss of $126 million (about ₹1,000 crores) in refunds to passengers, rebooking, hotel and food arrangements.
The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), which investigated the incident, recommended the implementation of 48 new policies. These include strengthening crisis management and ensuring the presence of senior engineers at busy times.
In addition, the CAA advised NATS to deploy on-site level 2 engineers during busy seasons. The report also pointed out that many aviation organizations were not informed of the glitch in time, and most came to know about it from media reports.
Airlines statement
EasyJet Chief Executive Officer, Johan Lundgren, said, “The report clearly shows that NATS severely disappointed airlines and passengers due to its lack of preparedness and planning. Airlines have suffered due to this, which cost crores.”
This is not the first time UK airlines have faced such troubles. In June 2023, passengers had to stand in long queues for hours due to a new policy that banned carrying more than 100 ml of liquid.
This incident not only highlights technical flaws but also how work-from-home arrangements require strong management and planning. The aviation sector will have to focus on vigilance and better strategies to avoid such incidents.
