Over 2,300 Ryanair flights in Eastern Europe have been affected by GPS jamming. Aviation authorities say the jamming is coming from Russia.
Some 46,000 flights have been affected in the eight months to the end of March, according to data from the flight disruption website GPSJAM.org. Most of the cases occurred during flights in Eastern Europe and the Baltic region, which borders Russia. Although potentially dangerous, modern aircraft have other alternative navigation systems. “In recent years there has been an increase in intermittent GPS jamming, which affects all airlines,” Ryanair said.
“Our aircraft have multiple systems to determine the aircraft’s position, including GPS, and if one of them is not working, they can switch to one of the alternative systems.” In addition to Ryanair, 1,368 Wizz Air flights, 82 British Airways flights and four easyJet flights were affected. Glenn Bradley, head of flight operations at the CAA, said: “Aviation is one of the safest forms of air travel and there are several safety protocols in place to protect navigation systems. GPS jamming does not directly affect an aircraft’s navigation and a known problem does not mean an aircraft has been deliberately jammed.”
