Thousands of Ryanair and BA planes lost their sat-nav after Putin jammed flights

Ryanair, British Airways, Jet2 and easyJet planes flying in and out of the UK are among thousands of commercial flights to have experienced suspected Russian “spoofing” of onboard GPS systems in the last year.

Between 28 May last year and 28 May this year, at least 3,300 Ryanair flights reported manipulation of GPS systems

The same was reported for more than 1,500 British Airways flights, 57 Jet2 flights and 46 easyJet flights, according to data provided by SkAI Data Services.

The majority of incidents occurred in eastern Europe, near the Russian border, where the Kremlin is accused of basing permanent GPS jammers.

Security experts have warned that UK commercial flights are increasingly at risk of Russian signal-jamming and spoofing which could prevent aircrafts transmitting locations while flying across Europe and Asia this summer, as Vladimir Putin’s grey-zone warfare continues to test Western resolve.

GPS location data is vital for monitoring an aircraft’s live flight path, with co-ordinates used alongside speed and elevation data in systems that are able to trigger a warning to pilots if they are on a collision course with a mountain or other obstacle, or if there is nearby air traffic.

On the same day that an RAF jet carrying Defence Secretary John Healey had its GPS signal jammed, as it flew near the Russian border last week, 18 flights run by BA, easyJet, Ryanair, and Jet2 experienced interference, the new data shows.

Signal-jamming blocks a plane’s connection to GPS. Spoofing, another type of interference, is when ground-based transmitters feed fake signals to an aircraft’s navigation systems, tricking it into displaying the wrong location or time.

Jamming can not only hamper navigation bu tcan cut off any linked software on an aircraft, including alerts and early warning systems about potential collisions.

Since the start of Russia’s war in Ukraine, the region has become an area rife with reported GPS jamming and spoofing.

This week, a BA flight from New Delhi to Heathrow was spoofed while flying over the Black Sea. For a distance of around 900km, its onboard GPS indicated it was actually over land in Odessa, on the coast of Ukrainne.

A Ryanair flight from Riga in Latvia to East Midlands airport lost its onboard GPS for an hour while flying in the Baltic region.

Joji Waites, director of flight safety, policy and regulation at The British Airline Pilots’ Association, said commercial airlines were facing the “collateral effects” of GPS jamming. He described it as a “predominantly military activity” but urged against “over-reliance on any single technology”.

He said holidaymakers should rest assured that pilots were “highly trained, experienced professionals who follow rigorous operational procedures, and it is that professionalism that ensures this risk is effectively managed on every flight”.

Pilots are now receiving additional training for GPS-denied environments in which they are forced to rely on more traditional forms of navigation when signals are interrupted.

Commercial aircraft are also equipped with back-up systems to identify an aircraft’s location and ensure safe and accurate navigation. But the rapid increase in interference is creating mounting operational and safety pressures.

Raphael Monstein, co-founder of aviation intelligence firm SkAI Data Services, said there had been a “remarkable increase” in GPS interference over conflict zones across the globe.

“The interference is widely assumed to be a defence against drones and GPS-guided missiles, and civilian users such as aviation and shipping are just casualties,” he added.

“Commercial air traffic remains safe, even in areas with unreliable GNSS [Global Navigation Satellite System]. However, it can cause system errors on aircraft and increase pilot workload, reducing safety margins and potentially impacting airspace capacity.”

Ryanair, British Airways, Jet2 and easyJet were approached for comment.