Britain's Air Traffic Services chief executive Martin Rolfe faced intense pressure to resign after a second technical malfunction in two weeks affected thousands of flights across multiple UK airports. The Prime Minister avoided directly backing Rolfe, instead stating that Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander would investigate the recurring issues. Airlines and industry figures criticized Rolfe for failing to improve system reliability, with Ryanair CEO Neil McMahon demanding his immediate resignation due to more than 25,000 passengers being affected across 140 flights.
Written locally by qwen2.5:14b on 2026-09-22,
using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the
same event (that is the story summary below).
Story summary
On Monday, Nats, Britain's air traffic control provider, faced renewed criticism after a "connectivity issue" at its Prestwick center in Scotland caused delays and disruptions to flights across Scotland and northern England. This incident is the second major disruption within two weeks, following a software fault on September 8 that canceled over 2,000 flights and affected hundreds of thousands of passengers.
Ryanair estimated that more than 25,000 of its passengers were impacted by Monday's delays, with around 140 flights delayed. The company's chief operations officer, Neal McMahon, called for the resignation of Nats CEO Martin Rolfe, accusing him of presiding over repeated system failures and passenger disruption.
EasyJet also criticized the resilience of Nats' systems, stating that the latest incident "calls into question" their reliability. Meanwhile, Airlines UK CEO Tim Alderslade emphasized the need for ATC infrastructure to be resilient enough to keep people moving, calling the recent failure a significant issue affecting both passengers and airlines.
Despite growing calls for Rolfe's resignation, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak did not publicly back Rolfe but stated that it was initially up to the Transport Secretary to investigate the cause of these recurring issues.
Written for “Air Traffic Control Issues” on 2026-10-05,
grounded in this article and the 11 other(s) covering the same event.
- See more Daily Mail on Google - save us as a Preferred Source
Britain's air traffic control chief was clinging to his job last night after the Prime Minister refused to back him over a second technical meltdown in two weeks.
Thousands of passengers were left stranded after hundreds of flights were grounded due to a 'connectivity issue' at the National Air Traffic Services (NATS) offices in Prestwick, Scotland.
asserted
hundreds → see → Prestwick
Chief executive Martin Rolfe, who was already facing calls to quit after a computer error saw 2,000 flights cancelled 13 days ago, was under intense pressure yesterday as airlines said they had had enough.
asserted
they → face → enough
Unlike the last glitch at NATS, which is 49 per cent owned by the taxpayer, Andy Burnham did not ride to Mr Rolfe's defence yesterday.
asserted
Burnham → own → defence
Asked why he has not been sacked, the PM told reporters: 'Well these are clearly serious issues and they need to be fully investigated, and I know the Transport Secretary is taking these issues extremely seriously.
asserted
Secretary → ask → issues
'Further issues today do cause even greater concern, but initially this is a matter for the Transport Secretary to get to the bottom of what is behind this and why there has been a recurrence.'
asserted
what → cause → this
Earlier the PM's spokesman had called the situation 'deeply frustrating' and said national infrastructure must be 'fit for purpose'.
asserted
infrastructure → call → purpose
Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander said: 'I know this will be deeply frustrating for passengers after the previous issue.'
Ryanair boss Neal McMahon said more than 25,000 passengers were affected and 140 of its flights delayed. 'Martin Rolfe has presided over repeated system failures, repeated passenger disruption and repeated failures to deliver an effective back-up system,' he said.
asserted
he → say → system
National Air Traffic Services chief executive Martin Rolfe, pictured, was under intense pressure yesterday as airlines said they had had enough
'
asserted
they → picture → enough
Martin Rolfe should resign today.
asserted
Rolfe → resign → ?
Beleaguered Mr Rolfe, 54, has presided over four major failures in recent years.
asserted
Rolfe → preside → years
He is the highest-paid air traffic controller in Europe, earning £1.4million last year and more than £6million over the past five years.
asserted
He → pay → years
By comparison, his Dutch counterpart, Joost Meijs, is paid £225,000 a year.
asserted
counterpart → pay → 225,000
According to the UK Civil Aviation Authority, passengers are unlikely to receive compensation for yesterday's delays and cancellations because they were due to an 'extraordinary circumstance'.
uncertain
they → accord → circumstance
Aviation analytics firm Cirium said EasyJet was the worst-affected airline followed by British Airways, Loganair, Ryanair, Aer Lingus and KLM.
asserted
EasyJet → say → Airways
Flights were cancelled and delayed at London City, Heathrow, Luton, Manchester, Liverpool, Bristol, Glasgow, Edinburgh and Belfast airports.
asserted
Flights → cancel → airports
Tim Alderslade, chief executive of industry body Airlines UK, said the air traffic control system was 'critical national infrastructure' which 'must be resilient enough to keep people moving'.
asserted
which → say → people
'Yet another NATS failure is causing delays and disruption for passengers and airlines alike, and comes just days after its report into the most recent major outage,' he said.
asserted
he → cause → outage
'Passengers and airlines deserve better.'
asserted
Passengers → deserve → ?
He added that inquiries into other recent failures 'must address the underlying weaknesses in the system'.
asserted
inquiries → add → system
Among those affected yesterday were Barbara Ann Stoddart and Andrew Lithgow, who were due to be flying to Las Vegas for their wedding.
asserted
who → affect → wedding
Their flight from Glasgow to Heathrow was cancelled, meaning they missed their transatlantic connection.
asserted
they → cancel → connection
'I'm completely stressed out,' Ms Stoddart said.
asserted
Stoddart → stress → ?
NATS said the situation was being treated 'very seriously'.
asserted
situation → say → ?
'In the real world we accept technology can and sometimes does fail,' a spokesman added.
asserted
spokesman → accept → world
'Our job is minimising disruption where possible.'
asserted
job → minimise → disruption
The Aporia
