Andy Burnham has refused to back the under-fire air traffic control boss as hundreds of passengers were impacted by fresh disruption on Monday.
At least 200 flights have been delayed or cancelled due to an issue at National Air Traffic Services’ (Nats) centre in Prestwick, which despite being fixed this morning has led to major issues for those using airlines in Scotland and the north of England.
Martin Rolfe, the chief executive of Nats, is now facing ever-growing calls to quit, including from Ryanair’s chief operations officer, Neal McMahon, who said “he has presided over repeated system failures, repeated passenger disruption and repeated failures to deliver an effective back-up system”.
Earlier this month, after disruption caused by a software fault impacted London Heathrow and Gatwick, Downing Street said ministers had confidence in Mr Rolfe.
However, asked today by reporters if Mr Burnham retained confidence in the CEO, a spokesperson said: “I think obviously there’s a review that is ongoing and the transport secretary on the larger outage recently has been clear that we need to urgently understand why the issue wasn’t discovered and fixed before it caused chaos.”
Are you stuck at an airport over the issue, is your flight cancelled or delayed? Contact us by emailing Harriette.Boucher@independent.co.uk
Key Points
- PM fails to back Nats CEO Martin Rolfe
- Around 200 flights cancelled or delayed after technical issue
- Ryanair demands Nats chief executive resigns
- Passengers hit by delays after Nats technical issues
- Cancelled or delayed flights: What are my rights to a refund?
- Nats apologises after air traffic control air fixed
More than 25,000 Ryanair passengers disrupted, airline claims
16:45 , Harriette BoucherMore than 25,000 Ryanair passengers are expected to be disrupted by today’s technical failure, the airline has claimed.
Ryanair said some 140 flights have been delayed, with some unable to fly for hours, “as Nats continues to provide no indication of when normal service will resume”.
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.
“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.”
In pictures: Travellers held up at airports after Nats technical failure
16:14 , Harriette Boucher
Flights from Birmingham still disrupted, says airport
15:36 , Harriette BoucherWatch: Glasgow Airport flights cancelled and delayed after second air traffic control issue in two weeks
15:05 , Harriette BoucherIn pictures: Passengers stranded as Nats failure disrupts flights
14:52 , Harriette Boucher
Around 200 flights cancelled after technical issue
14:32 , Harriette BoucherSome 200 flights were cancelled or delayed on Monday following a Nats technical failure, data from an aviation analytics company has shown.
According to Cirium, easyJet was the most impacted airline with 47 of its 670 scheduled departures today from the UK cancelled.
Around 17.4 per cent of departures from George Best Belfast City Airport had been cancelled or considered “no fly”, meaning they have been delayed for more than three hours.
At Belfast International Airport, 12.5 per cent of flights were cancelled along with 10.3 per cent at Glasgow Airport.
Cirium said London airports were “faring well”.
'I'm completely stessed out' - bride-to-be trying to get to Las Vegas for wedding
14:20 , Alex RossBride-to-be Barbara Ann Stoddart was due to be flying to Las Vegas with groom Andrew Lithgow, their three children, best man and a friend, and is hoping they still make it in time for the wedding.
They were due to fly from Glasgow to Heathrow with British Airways today but that flight was cancelled, meaning they will miss their connection to Las Vegas, also today, and have been booked onto a flight late afternoon on Tuesday.
She said: “I’m completely stressed out. This has been planned for about a year-and-a-half, going away to get married, and the flight has now been cancelled, so we’re going to miss a full day as we won’t be there till tomorrow night.
“I have still to go to the county court in Vegas to go and get the marriage licence, and I’ve got to be there three days in advance.
“The wedding is on Saturday but if there’s any hiccups I might not be getting married on Saturday now.
“I was going to do it on Tuesday because they said if there’s any hiccups or delays it gives you an extra 24 hours for them to process at their end.
“The wedding chapel and everything is already booked and paid for as well, and it’s on the Saturday, so we can’t rearrange it.”
Watch: Further air traffic control issues could cost airlines millions, says Simon Calder
14:05 , Harriette BoucherRyanair responds to family's issue with €4 airport voucher
13:46 , Alex RossAfter Dan Halpenny told us that he and his family had each been given a €4 voucher to spend after their flight was delayed for eight hours, Ryanair has responded.
A spokesperson said: “Today's disruption has been caused by a NATS air traffic control systems failure in the UK, which has impacted airlines and passengers across the network.
“Ryanair is working to minimise disruption and assist affected passengers as services recover from this latest NATS failure. Where applicable, care and assistance is provided in accordance with EU261 requirements, including vouchers during delays.”
'The industry and travelling public want answers', says travel group
13:45 , Harriette BoucherThe aviation industry are demanding answers from Nats following its fourth major disruption in the last few years.
Luke Petherbridge, director of public affairs, at travel trade association ABTA, said: “This is the second NATS incident to cause disruption in the last fortnight, and fourth in recent years. It’s simply not good enough. The industry and travelling public will want answers – not only on what has gone wrong, but critically how the system is going to be made more resilient to avoid future outages.
“These incidents cause inconvenience to travellers and significant financial costs for airlines and the wider travel industry, including additional work and costs for ABTA’s tour operator and travel agent members.
“As these NATS issues are entirely outside of travel companies’ control, the Government should seriously consider whether NATS should be made to compensate the wider industry for such events.”
'Delayed for eight hours - and we get a €4 voucher to spend'
13:44 , Alex RossToday's flight disruption has impacted hundreds people, including Dan Halpenny and his family who were booked to fly from Dublin Airport to Leeds Bradford Airport at 10.25am.
However, when they arrived at the airport, following a weekend away for a birthday in Ireland, they discovered the Ryanair flight had been delayed.
To add to the stress for Mr Halpenny, his father and two children, aged five and two, need to get to the UK for a flight from London Stansted to Bali tomorrow afternoon.
Faced with the fear the flight might be cancelled, the family have already looked at other options such as getting a ferry across the Irish Sea, but for now they are holding on.
They've each been given a €4 voucher to spend at the airport.
"Early on when it all came about there was anger over the lack of information but since then it has quickly turned to apathy," he told The Independent.
"These things happen in big organisations, but the whole thing could have been handled better with passengers given better information on the ground.
"It is a stressful time, because we want to get to the UK for the flight to Bali, but we're not super wealthy and can only work within our means."
He added: "We are supposed to feel relatively trustful over using air travel, but these recent incidents have hit that and might mean when booking flights we book a couple of days earlier or even look at different modes of transport."
'Apologies are no longer enough': Wizz Air calls for urgent action from Nats
13:25 , Harriette BoucherWizz Air has called on Nats to “urgently fix” its failures and be more transparent about its technical outages.
“Repeated apologies are no longer enough,” Yvonne Moynihan, the managing director of Wizz Air UK, said.
“Last week, a NATS system failure brought widespread disruption to the south of the UK. Today, another failure has affected the north. Passengers and airlines are entitled to ask: which part of the country will be next?
“NATS claims the two incidents are unrelated. Far from offering reassurance, this raises an even more serious question: how many other hidden weaknesses remain within its systems?
“NATS must urgently fix these failures, demonstrate that robust backup systems are in place and provide full transparency about how repeated outages can occur within such a short period. Airlines are once again being left to manage the operational and financial consequences of a failure entirely outside their control, while passengers pay the real price through delays, cancellations and disrupted plans. This cannot continue.”
PM fails to back Nats CEO Martin Rolfe
13:18 , Alex RossThis lunchtime, as pressure grows on Nats chief executive Martin Rolfe over the disruption caused this morning, questions were asked of Andy Burnham’s official spokesperson.
He appeared to avoid backing Mr Rolfe.
He said: "I think obviously there's a review that is ongoing, and the transport secretary - on the larger outage recently - has been clear that we need to urgently understand why the issue wasn't fixed before it caused chaos, and you'll have seen the transport sector respond this morning to the further IT issue affecting Nats.
“Engineers have fixed the problem, and systems are resuming.
"We recognise this is deeply frustrating for passengers, particularly after a recent incident. And it's crucial that our national infrastructure is fit for purpose now and in the future. And we'll make sure the aviation sector is as resilient as possible, so passengers can get to where they need to be."
Impact of Nats failure is 'huge' for passengers and airlines, says travel expert
13:05 , Harriette BoucherThe impact of the latest Nats failure is “huge” for passengers and airlines, a travel expert has said.
Simon Calder told GB News: “It’s just awful...I am seeing dozens of cancellations, for example, easyJet alone in and out of Glasgow and Edinburgh has cancelled a dozen of flights.
“Nats says it is unrelated to the last [issue], however the impact is huge.”
“This is going to affect the airlines as well, it’s probably going to end up costing them a few million pounds on top of the tens of millions of pounds they lost less than two weeks ago.
“I do know there’s an awful lot of upset, stressed people, desperate to get away...and once again they’ve been flummoxed.”
Travel chaos is 'very regrettable', says Swinney
12:45 , Harriette BoucherDisruption caused by an issue with air traffic control systems is “very regrettable”, Scottish First Minister John Swinney has said.
Speaking to the Press Association during an unrelated visit to Edinburgh Airport, the first minister said: “It’s very regrettable that there’s been an issue with the air traffic control system today and that members of the public have experienced disruption as a result.
“I’m glad the issues are now resolved and that flights are able to take their normal course, but it demonstrates of all organisations, particularly the air traffic control system, having resilience, being able to withstand issues in the systems, so that people can rely on the services that are being provided.
“So, we’ll engage with the national air traffic control service to ensure that these issues are addressed and that the resilience is necessary for these systems is available at all times.”
‘Chaos, stress, and confusion’ as passengers left stranded after Nats failure
12:25 , Harriette BoucherMegan O’Kane, 34, was heading to London for a Snow Patrol concert on Monday morning when she found out her flight had been cancelled.
The easyjet passenger was set to depart Belfast International Airport at 10am, but was told of the cancellation after getting through security at around 8.30am.
She said the easyJet staff “couldn't get away quick enough” and left passengers to deal with the chaos.
Ms O’Kane told The Independent: “As soon as we were passed over to EasyJet, they were just like ‘sort yourself on the app’.
“Someone phoned easyJet, and they were told on the phone that the flight was going, and we're like, ‘well, no, it clearly isn't’, and there was just so much confusion.
“And then we were told to go on the app, which hadn't been updated, and then when it did get updated on the app that the flight was canceled, there were no alternative flights showing up.”
Ms O’Kane had to help an elderly man who didn’t have the easyJet app on his phone, but wasn’t getting help from any staff.
“I was okay because I had the app and could go on Skyscanner and sort myself out, but for somebody who's not technologically literate, it's really poor because what was he gonna do? If people weren't being kind and helping him, what would he have done?
She managed to get herself a flight from Belfast City Airport this afternoon and is hoping she won’t face further delays.
“It’s just so frustrating…It’s frustrating in itself, the flight getting cancelled, but the lack of help doubles the stress, doubles the frustration, and then you have to pay out for your own flights, and then you're told you're not getting your refund for at least seven days.
“Something needs to be done…I've got another like holiday planned in December and it's making me very nervous.”
Delayed passengers turn to social media to voice annoyance over disruption
12:06 , Alex RossAs many people on flights today arrived at airports to find cancellations and delays, someturned to social media to voice their annoyance over the situation.
Earlier, Nats apologised for disruption caused by the "issue" at its Prestwick centre in Scotland, which has now been fixed.
Among those disrupted was Kate License, who said on Facebook it was her birthday today, and that her 40-minute flight had been delayed by 10 hours.
Michael Scannell said his 9am flight from Glasgow Airport had been delayed by 12 hours. A Celtic supporter, likely unhappy over his side's loss to Rangers at the weekend, he joked: “Celtic board now managing air traffic control."
Also at Glasgow Airport, Janine West wrote: "Couldn't make it up, flight delayed until 8pm tonight."
Paul Edwards, due to fly to Cardiff Airport from Malaga today, wrote: "Delayed flight yuk."
Tice calls for embattled Nats boss to quit
11:57 , Harriette BoucherRichard Tice has joined calls for the Nats boss to resign after another technical issue caused chaos at several airports on Monday.
The deputy leader of Reform UK told The Telegraph: “This is yet another chaotic shambles by Nats. The chief executive must resign immediately and the chairman needs to explain themselves to Parliament.
“We need confirmation whether these are possibly caused by hacks, which clearly represent a national security issue.”
Domestic flights disrupted at Luton
11:39 , Harriette BoucherLuton Airport said domestic flights had been disrupted by the air traffic control issue.
A statement said: “The air traffic control system operated by Nats at its Prestwick centre is experiencing a technical issue which is impacting flights across the UK including a number of domestic flights to/from London Luton Airport.
“Passengers are advised to check with their airline before travelling to the airport. We will continue to provide updates as more information becomes available.”
Passengers and airlines 'deserve better', says industry boss
11:35 , Harriette BoucherPassengers and airlines “deserve better”, an aviation industry body has said after the second air traffic control issue within two weeks.
Tim Alderslade, chief executive of Airlines UK, said: “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.
“The UK’s ATC (air traffic control) system is critical national infrastructure and it must be resilient enough to keep people moving.
“Passengers and airlines deserve better and the independent CAA (Civil Aviation Authority) report, together with the forthcoming Civil Aviation Bill, must address the underlying weaknesses in the system so that these failures stop happening.”
Dozens of flights cancelled as airlines warn of further disruption
11:31 , Harriette BoucherSome 35 flights have been cancelled on Monday amid the disruption caused by Nats’ technical failure.
At 10.30am, four flights departing or arriving at Manchester Airport had been cancelled, five at Glasgow Airport, and three at Belfast Airport.
Easyjet is the most impacted airline so far, data from Cirium shows.
Of 670 scheduled Easyjet departures today from the UK, 29 are cancelled.
Airlines have warned of further disruption due to the knock-on impact of the delays.
Nats said reoccurrence of technical issue causing disruption earlier this month was 'unlikely'
11:24 , Alex RossIt was less than a month ago when airlines were brought to a halt across the UK by a technical issue caused by a software defect in a the National Airspace System, which manages UK airspace.
More than 2,000 flights were cancelled by the problem on 8 September, which cost the aviation industry an estimated £70m.
It was the result of a fault in the software that allocates codes to individual aircraft, and was not related to an outage in 2023 which also caused mass disruption.
In a preliminary report, published on Friday, Nats said on the incident earlier this month: "We now understand the events that caused the issue and an additional engineering framework is in place.... In the unlikely event of reoccurrence, a faster recovery can now be implemented to restore service and reduce the duration of system instability, minimising operational disruption and improving overall resilience."
This had been picked up on today by Ryanair chief operations officer Neal McMahon, who has again called for Nats chief executive Martin Rolfe to step down.
Mr McMahon said: “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."
Ryanair demands Nats chief executive resigns
11:11 , Harriette BoucherRyanair has demanded the resignation of Martin Rolfe, the chief executive of Nats, as passengers suffer further disruption today.
Chief operations officer Neal McMahon has hit out at Mr Rolfe, saying he must be “replaced by somebody competent” and be sacked if he fails to resign.
He 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.”
Cancelled or delayed flights: What are my rights to a refund?
10:55 , Harriette Boucher
Cancelled or delayed flights: What are my rights to a refund?
Glasgow Airport tells passengers to brace for further disruption
10:50 , Harriette BoucherThe air traffic control technical issue is causing delays at Glasgow Airport, its owners have said.
AGS Airports, which also owns Aberdeen and Southampton airports, said further disruption is expected due to the knock-on impact of the delays.
An AGS spokesperson said: “A technical issue affecting Nats air traffic control services at the Prestwick centre is causing disruption to some flight departures and arrivals.
“As a result, some services operating to and from our airports are experiencing delays, primarily at Glasgow Airport, and further disruption is expected due to the knock-on impact across the network.
“We apologise for any inconvenience caused to passengers.
“This is the second time in as many weeks that a Nats technical issue has had a significant impact on services operating through our airports and we fully appreciate the frustration this will cause those whose travel plans have been disrupted.
“We advise passengers to check with their airline for the latest flight information before travelling.”
Jet2 demands action after 'another major failure'
10:47 , Harriette BoucherJet2 has demanded urgent action following Nats’ “major” failure this morning.
Chief executive Steve Heapy said it is “unacceptable that airlines and customers are left to pick up the pieces when these recurring failures happen.
“Make no mistake, we are counting the cost of this disruption and will be sending another bill to NATS.”
He added: “Once again, airlines and customers are being disrupted by yet another NATS issue, and one has to ask: how many more failures do customers and airlines have to deal with? This morning’s disruption comes days after NATS published a report into its latest major failure, and it is simply not good enough for this critical national infrastructure to keep letting customers down.
“Customers work hard to look forward to their holidays, and airlines work hard to deliver those holidays. They should not be repeatedly exposed to delays and disruption because the UK’s air traffic control systems cannot be relied upon.”
Jet2 has called for Nats and the government to set out the immediate steps being taken to improve system resilience and reduce the risk of further failures, it said.
Mr Heapy added: “There have been too many incidents, too many reports and too many promises of lessons being learned. What customers and airlines need now is action, accountability and proper resilience, and we need it urgently.
“Our teams will do what they always do in these situations, which is continue to do everything possible to look after customers and recover operations.”
Transport secretary says further delays possible after Nats technical failure
10:40 , Harriette BoucherNats technical issue is fixed but delays still expected
10:37 , Harriette BoucherNats has said a technical issue that disrupted dozens of flights on Monday is now fixed, but urged passengers to still check the status of their flight.
A spokesperson said: “The issue in our Prestwick centre is now fixed.
“We are working with airports and airlines to safely lift air traffic regulations as quickly as we can to minimise any further disruption.
“Passengers should still check the status of their flight with their airline. We apologise for the disruption.”
Airports across the country hit by disruption
10:30 , Harriette BoucherAirports across the country have been hit by delays on Monday morning.
While Nats said airports south of Manchester were broadly unaffected by the technical issue, some flights heading north and flights departing Scottish airports have been delayed
A London City Airport spokesperson. “We are experiencing some disruption due to an issue at NATS Prestwick.
“We are monitoring the situation closely and working with NATS as they resolve the issue.”
A London Stansted spokesperson said: “London Stansted is operating as normal with only a handful of departing flights potentially being delayed as a result of the NATS issue at Prestwick – these are flights that would head into airspace controlled by Prestwick, flights to Scotland for example. All other flights are unaffected at this time.”
A London Gatwick spokesperson said: “London Gatwick is operating as normal today, although a small number of flights may face delays due to an ongoing technical issue at NATS' Prestwick centre in Scotland.
“Passengers should contact their airline for the latest updates.”
Travel disruption raises further questions about Nats resilience - EasyJet
10:19 , Harriette BoucherEasyJet has said the latest flight disruption “calls into question the resilience of Nats’ systems” after two air traffic control problems within one month.
The airline said in a statement: “A Nats air traffic control system failure in its Prestwick centre is causing delays to flights with some unable to operate.
“This, once again, calls into question the resilience of Nats’ systems and demonstrates the need for firm actions to prevent these repeated failures.
“We will do all we can minimise the impact of this for our customers and advise anyone due to fly today to check our flight tracker for the latest information.”
Recap: ‘Software defect’ was cause of travel chaos that grounded thousands of flights
10:15 , Harriette Boucher
‘Software defect’ was cause of travel chaos that grounded thousands of flights
British Airways 'disappointed' by disruption
10:14 , Harriette BoucherBritish Airways has said it is “disappointed” as a Nats technical failure causes disruption to many of flights on Monday.
A spokesperson said: “Yet another technical fault with NATS means some of our customers are likely to experience disruption to their travel plans today.
“This is disappointing, and whilst it is an issue that is entirely out of our control, we're doing everything we can to limit the impact on customers and are keeping them updated.”
Several airports impacted by traffic control issues
10:11 , Harriette BoucherThe technical issue at Nats Prestwick centre is causing disruption to several UK airports.
Manchester Airport, Belfast City Airport, Belfast International Airport, Glasgow Airport, and Aberdeen Airport are among the airports affected by the last issue.
Nats said airports south of Manchester were broadly unaffected, but flights heading north and flights departing Scottish airports were subject to some delay.
London Stansted said it was operating as normal, but some departing flights heading into airspace controlled by Prestwick may be delayed as a result of the issue.
Ryanair hits out at 'yet another Nats failure'
10:05 , Harriette BoucherRyanair has hit out at Nats after a technical issue on Monday morning has grounded flights at several airports.
In a statement warning its customers of potential delays, it said: “We have been advised of a NATS Air Traffic Control equipment failure today affecting the airspace above Scotland/Northern England.
“As a result, we expect some delays to flights to/from the UK and Ireland. Affected passengers will be notified and any passengers travelling to/from the UK and Ireland on Mon 21 Sep should check their Ryanair app for the latest updates on their flight.”
Passengers hit by delays after Nats technical issues
10:04 , Harriette BoucherPassengers have been hit by delays at several airports following a National Air Traffic Services air traffic control issue.
Customers have been told to expect disruption as Nats investigates a technical issue at its centre in Prestwick
It comes less than two weeks after the service experienced a “software defect” that caused an air traffic meltdown and disrupted more than 2,000 flights across the country.
