Richard Branson says airlines ‘will have to pay compensation’ after air traffic control failure

Sir Richard Branson has said he believes airlines will have to pay compensation to passengers who are affected by the widespread flight disruption, even though the problem was caused by air traffic control failure.

The fallout from Monday’s UK air traffic control failure continues to disrupt travel, with the government telling airlines to take every step to help stranded passengers.

About a quarter of a million passengers have been caught up in the bank holiday chaos after a technical problem at Nats, which runs UK air traffic control systems, severely limited takeoffs and landings for a number of hours.