I've been reading through the independent review of the 2023 NATS computer failure that stopped a large proportion of aviation on 28 August 2023. I'll put the report on the relevant thread, but one paragraph I thought was suitable for raising here.This comment followed on from a previous finding that the CAA lacked powers to request passenger information, and when the CAA approached airlines for help contacting passengers affected by the incident, the airlines all refused to do so. This was an event judged to be Extraordinary Circumstances, but there is considerable evidence that airlines did not meet their Right to Care responsibilities.
Originally Posted by Independent Review of NATS "en-route" flight planning system failure 28 August 2023
The evidence uncovered following this incident (even without the benefit of effective information powers) suggests that breaches of Regulation 261 may be quite common, and the Panel is not aware that any airline has to date been investigated or penalised for such breaches as a result of the August 2023 event. The Panel understands that CAA policy focuses in the first place on encouraging compliance, and will generally only use its enforcement powers following several reminders and successive breaches over a period of time. It may be that a more assertive approach to enforcement, including the use of powers in some cases following a single incident of a flagrant breach of Regulation 261 (or other consumer protection regulations), would provide a more effective deterrent than the current approach. The Panel appreciates that such a change in approach is likely to require more resources. It therefore recommends that the CAA should consider expanding the resources devoted to consumer rights enforcement and stepping in more readily in response to intelligence of a flagrant breach, not just in response to overwhelming and recurring evidence of breaches over a period.