NATS ATC SYSTEM FAILURE (WED, 30 JULY) CAUSES DELAYS OF OVER 4HRS & DIVERSIONS DUE TO LONDON AIRSPACE CLOSURE

Ryanair, the UK’s No.1 low fares airline, today (Wed 30^th) called on NATS CEO, Martin Rolfe to resign after yet another NATS ATC system failure is causing delays of over 4hrs and resulted in several diversions of Ryanair flights, which has disrupted thousands of passengers as a direct result of yet another NATS system outage.

It is utterly unacceptable that passengers travelling to/from the UK, many travelling with young families on long-awaited summer holidays are being subjected to needless air traffic control delays, once again caused by a NATS system failure and NATS must foot the bill and compensate airlines and passengers for this unnecessary disruption caused by Martin Rolfe’s continuous mismanagement.

It is clear that no lessons have been learnt since the Aug’23 NATS system outage and today’s disruption only reinforces what has become increasingly clear: overpaid NATS CEO Martin Rolfe is out of his depth and must step aside to make way for someone who can do the job properly.

Ryanair’s COO, Neal McMahon, said:

“It is outrageous that passengers are once again being hit with delays and disruption due to Martin Rolfe’s continued mismanagement of NATS. Yet another ATC system failure has resulted in the closure of UK airspace meaning thousands of passengers travel plans have been disrupted. It is clear that no lessons have been learnt since the Aug’23 NATS system outage and passengers continue to suffer as a result of Martin Rolfe’s incompetence.

If NATS CEO Martin Rolfe fails to resign on the back of this latest NATS system outage that has disrupted thousands of passengers yet again, then UK Transport Minister Heidi Alexander must act without delay to remove Martin Rolfe and deliver urgent reform of NATS’s shambolic ATC service, so that airlines and passengers are no longer forced to endure these preventable delays caused by persistent NATS failures.