Arsenal's flight to Italy for their Champions League match against Napoli was delayed on Tuesday after a UK air traffic control system issue led to more than 1,000 flight cancellations. The Gunners were held up leaving for Naples as the technical failure left thousands of passengers stranded at airports across the country.
Manager Mikel Arteta was scheduled to speak to journalists at a press conference in Naples on Tuesday evening, alongside defender Riccardo Calafiori, ahead of the team's opening European fixture of the season. Because of the technical failure, players remained at the club's training ground and left later for the airport, meaning the team was not expected to arrive in Naples until around 9.30pm local time (8.30pm UK time).
System issue resolved by 7.30pm
Nats, which provides air traffic control services to 15 UK airports, confirmed the issue was "resolved" after disruption to over 400 flights. The "system issue" on Tuesday was resolved by 7.30pm, but thousands remained impacted by delays and cancellations at UK airports.
Many passengers were left "trapped" seated on planes on runways for hours, while others were "stranded" at airports. Flight monitoring website Flightradar24 reported that more than 1,000 flights had been cancelled at UK airports by about 8pm.
Airlines report major disruption
Ryanair said more than 65,000 of its passengers had been disrupted and it had cancelled more than 50 scheduled flights. British Airways (BA) said it was forced to cancel or divert more than 100 flights on Tuesday, impacting "tens of thousands of customers".
Nats chief executive officer Martin Rolfe said he "always" accepts "full responsibility" after the technical issue caused huge disruption. He said: "I am the CEO of a piece of critical infrastructure, so it is my job to take responsibility for that.
"What I absolutely take responsibility for is keeping people safe and delivering the best service we possibly can on a day like today. You will understand my focus is entirely about how we actually resolve this issue, get things back to normal, help our airlines, our airport customers and the travelling public."
Ryanair calls for resignation
Neal McMahon, Ryanair's chief operating officer, called on Mr Rolfe to resign, saying: "How many more failures do passengers have to suffer before overpaid failure Nats CEO Martin Rolfe accepts responsibility for his repeated mismanagement and resigns?
"Over three years after Nats' catastrophic 2023 system meltdown, it's clear that nothing has changed, with UK passengers once again suffering avoidable ATC (air traffic control) delays of up to eight hours today due a critical Nats ATC system failing."
Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander is due to speak with Mr Rolfe on Wednesday before she addresses MPs in the Commons for the second reading of the Civil Aviation Bill. Mr Rolfe said airlines would be able to provide the best information on how long the ongoing impact would take to resolve.
