The part-privatised UK National Air Traffic Services (NATS) is to get a £50 million ($71.5 million) cash injection from the government, which owns 49% of the company, on condition that it can match the investment from private sources. The other major shareholder, the Airline Group, says: "We have companies that have approached us willing to invest." This is the second tranche of government money that NATS has been forced to seek as a result of a post-11 September traffic drop. By mid-May the UK's Civil Aviation Authority is expected to respond to NATS' appeal for a relaxation of the user-charges price-cap mechanism on the grounds that such a sharp traffic fall could never have been forecast.
Source: Flight International
