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Air traffic control operates against one governing constraint: uninterrupted system availability.
Controllers managing separation between aircraft have no manual process that scales to the traffic volumes a major hub demands.
When systems fail, regulators require a reduction in throughput, and at Heathrow that reduction translates into held departures, extended inbound queues, and a recovery that takes hours after capacity is restored.
NATS, the UK's primary air traffic control provider, is accounting for exactly that scenario following a massive disruption at Heathrow, and its chief said Wednesday that a cyber attack has been ruled out.
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