Ryanair called again for NATS CEO Martin Rolfe to resign (or be removed by the UK Govt) as East Midlands Airport is forced to close today (14 Feb) causing hundreds of passengers to suffer unnecessary delays due to further NATS Air Traffic Control (ATC) staff shortages.

Today’s forced closure of East Midlands Airport due to NATS staff shortages follows the NATS system failure in Aug last, which caused cancellations and long delays for hundreds of thousands of UK passengers, as well as repeated NATS staff shortages and a further system collapse at Gatwick on 9^th Dec last, disrupting thousands more UK passengers unnecessarily. These repeated NATS failures are unacceptable and make clear that it is time for overpaid CEO, Martin Rolfe, to quit or be dismissed and let someone competent take over.  

A Ryanair spokesperson said:

“It is inexplicable that despite the major NATS system collapse 6 months ago, which caused cancellations and long delays for hundreds of thousands of UK passengers, and repeated NATS staff shortages, overpaid CEO, Martin Rolfe, has still not taken any action to fix NATS. As a result, more UK passengers are suffering delays today (14 Feb) as East Midlands Airport is forced to close due to further NATS staff shortages.

It is unacceptable that passengers continue to face disruption due to NATS mismanagement. UK passengers need a competent UK ATC service and Martin Rolfe has repeatedly proven that he cannot deliver it. If he cannot do his job, then Martin Rolfe should immediately resign and let someone competent run UK ATC.”