Air traffic body must pay for improvements, says Ryanair

LOW-COST airline Ryanair has urged the company behind air traffic control at 14 of the UK’S airports not to put up charges after it was rapped on the knuckles by regulators.

The Civil Aviation Authority used for the first time powers granted to it under the Transport Act 2000 to investi gate claims by Ryanair and Stansted airport that NATS, the air traffic control company, had “discriminated against” traffic landing at the airport because of issues such as not having enough staff to deal with takeoffs and landings.

The CAA, a government body, said that while no formal breaches of regulations had been found, NATS will now be subject to its increased oversight af ter it “identified areas for improvement” including looking at the “resilience of its operations and contingency planning”.

“The CAA has required [NATS] to make a number of improvements to its operations, which we hope will prevent delays to Ryanair passengers travelling to or from the UK in the future,” a spokesman for Ryanair said. “However, this required level of resilience – which NATS failed to provide – should not be financed through increased charges to customers given that NATS posted profits of £126m last year.”

NATS’S profits were mainly helped by the fact a £92m writedown charge taken in 2016, linked to factors such as estimates about demand for flights, was far lower in its most recent financial year to March 31 at just £11m.

Richard Moriarty, director of consumers and markets at the CAA, said the fact it had used its powers for the first time “highlights the potential seriousness of the complaint raised. Our investigation has found no compliance breach, however improvements to operational resilience are key to ensuring service delivery levels are maintained.”