Belfast airports LIVE updates as UK flights grounded in latest NATS Air Traffic Control issue

Ryanair’s Chief Operations Officer, Neal McMahon, said: “Just three days after NATS assured airlines and passengers that it had introduced a robust ‘mitigation plans’, its flight data processing system has failed again. More than 25,000 Ryanair passengers have already suffered disruption, with over 140 Ryanair flights delayed, yet NATS still cannot tell passengers when this disruption will end.

“Martin Rolfe’s report claimed that another failure was ‘unlikely’ and that NATS could recover more quickly if one occurred. Those claims have been exposed as completely worthless. Just three days later, passengers are once again suffering lengthy delays because NATS has failed to deliver either a reliable system or an effective back-up.

“After the August 2023 collapse, Martin Rolfe assured Parliament that it was a ‘once-in-a-lifetime event’. Then NATS collapsed again on 8 Sept, disrupting more than 2,000 flights. Now, just 13 days later, the same flight data processing system has failed once more. How many times must UK passengers suffer disruption before Martin Rolfe is replaced by somebody competent?

“Another review, another report and another round of empty promises will not fix NATS. Martin Rolfe has presided over repeated system failures, repeated passenger disruption and repeated failures to deliver an effective back-up system. Enough is enough.

“Martin Rolfe should resign today. If he will not, then Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander should fire him and appoint somebody capable of delivering the resilient ATC service that UK passengers and airlines deserve.”