Investigations continue into what caused last evening’s technical glitch at England’s National Air Traffic Services (NATS) caused widespread disruption to air travel, leading to a temporary suspension of flights across the country.
The fault, which lasted approximately 20 minutes, forced NATS to restrict the number of aircraft permitted to operate in England and Wales, resulting in significant delays and diversions. Hundreds of flights were affected, with airlines such as British Airways compelled to limit operations at Heathrow Airport to 32 flights per hour until 7:15 PM, a sharp reduction from the usual 45.
By 5:00 PM, NATS announced that its engineers had restored the affected system, and normal operations were gradually resuming. However, the ripple effects persisted, with many aircraft and crew left out of position, causing ongoing delays at airports nationwide. Liverpool’s John Lennon Airport warned passengers of potential disruptions to remaining flights, while several inbound aircraft were forced to enter holding patterns or divert to alternative destinations.
The incident drew sharp criticism from Ryanair, Europe’s largest low-cost airline, which branded the outage as yet another example of NATS’ mismanagement. The carrier reported delays exceeding four hours and multiple flight diversions, severely impacting thousands of passengers, many of whom were families embarking on summer holidays.
Ryanair’s chief operating officer, Neal McMahon, issued a scathing statement, accusing NATS chief executive Martin Rolfe of “continued incompetence” and calling for his immediate resignation. The airline argued that no lessons had been learned from a similar NATS system failure in August 2023, which stranded over 700,000 passengers. Ryanair further demanded that NATS compensate airlines and passengers for the disruption and urged Westminster Transport Minister Heidi Alexander to remove Rolfe and overhaul NATS’ “shambolic” air traffic control service if he refused to step down.
Minister Alexander acknowledged the issue, noting that while systems had been restored, travellers should expect continued disruption and contact airports for updates.
The situation at London’s airports is stabilising, though some residual delays remain. Industry experts have expressed concern over the recurring technical issues at NATS, raising questions about the resilience of England’s air traffic infrastructure. The public and airlines alike await a response from Rolfe and potential government action to address the systemic challenges highlighted by this latest failure.
Neal McMahon shared, “It is outrageous that passengers are once again being hit with delays and disruption due to Martin Rolfe’s continued mismanagement of NATS. It is utterly unacceptable that passengers travelling to/from England are being subjected to needless air traffic control delays. If NATS CEO Martin Rolfe fails to resign on the back of this latest NATS system outage… then Westminster Transport Minister Heidi Alexander must act without delay.”
