The head of the UK's air traffic control company is facing calls to resign after a technical glitch caused widespread flight delays on Wednesday, raising fears of a repeat of the August 2023 chaos.
Nats, the company that runs the system, reported a technical problem that limited flights for about 20 minutes. The issue affected flights across the UK, restricting the number of aircraft that could fly in England and Wales. British Airways was forced to limit inbound and outbound flights at Heathrow to 32 per hour until 7.15pm, down from the usual 45.
Ryanair's chief operating officer, Neal McMahon, called for Nats chief executive Martin Rolfe to resign or be fired, stating: 'It is outrageous that passengers are once again being hit with delays and disruption due to Martin Rolfe's continued mismanagement of Nats.' He added that if Rolfe failed to resign, Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander 'must act without delay to remove Martin Rolfe'.
Nats engineers restored the affected system by around 5pm, and the company said it was resuming normal operations. The UK National Cyber Security Centre does not view the incident as a hacking attack. Liverpool's John Lennon Airport warned that remaining flights on Wednesday could face delays, and several inbound flights were required to hold or divert.
Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander said she was aware of the issue and that systems had been restored, but continued disruption was expected. A Department for Transport spokesperson said they were working with Nats to understand the cause and implications. The department noted that Alexander does not have direct control over Nats or staffing decisions.
The incident echoes the August 2023 failure, which disrupted over 700,000 passengers. Ryanair's McMahon criticised the lack of lessons learned, calling for urgent reform of Nats' 'shambolic ATC service'.
