Thousands of passengers faced widespread disruption across Britain’s airports on Wednesday afternoon after a technical failure at the National Air Traffic Service (NATS) control centre grounded flights for 20 minutes, prompting Ryanair to call for the immediate resignation of NATS chief executive Martin Rolfe.
The glitch at the Swanwick control centre in Hampshire at 4.05pm forced air traffic controllers to limit aircraft movements across the London control area – which covers most of England and Wales – before engineers restored the system at 4.25pm. However, airlines warned it would take hours to clear the backlog, with British Airways restricting its Heathrow operations and passengers facing average delays of nearly 90 minutes.
Ryanair’s chief operating officer Neal McMahon launched a scathing attack on NATS leadership, calling the latest failure “outrageous” and accusing Rolfe of “continued mismanagement” and “incompetence. The budget airline claimed “no lessons have been learnt” since the catastrophic August 2023 system failure that left more than 700,000 passengers stranded.
Widespread Impact Across UK Airports
The technical issue created immediate chaos at Britain’s busiest airports during peak summer holiday season. Gatwick Airport confirmed that “a technical issue impacting NATS is affecting all outbound flights across the UK”, whilst Birmingham Airport reported that “departing flights from many UK airports have been suspended.
At Heathrow, Britain’s busiest airport, flight tracking website flightradar24.com reported an average delay of 48 minutes for departing aircraft at 5.30pm – an hour after NATS claimed to have restored its systems. By that time, 89% of flights were experiencing delays, with knock-on effects expected to continue throughout the evening.
British Airways revealed the scale of ongoing restrictions, confirming that inbound and outbound flights at Heathrow would remain limited to just 32 per hour until 7.15pm – significantly below the usual rate of 45 per hour. The flag carrier warned that “the vast majority of our flights” were affected by the disruption.
Several flights scheduled to arrive at UK airports were forced into holding patterns or diverted elsewhere as controllers struggled to manage the reduced capacity. One passenger reported their Kos to Birmingham flight being diverted to Brussels, whilst aircraft circled above various UK cities awaiting clearance to land.
Ryanair Demands Leadership Change
In an extraordinary intervention, Ryanair’s Neal McMahon demanded immediate action from the government if Rolfe failed to resign voluntarily. It is clear that no lessons have been learnt since the Aug 2023 NATS system outage, and passengers continue to suffer as a result of Martin Rolfe’s incompetence,” McMahon declared.
If NATS CEO Martin Rolfe fails to resign on the back of this latest NATS system outage that has disrupted thousands of passengers yet again, then UK transport minister Heidi Alexander must act without delay to remove Martin Rolfe and deliver urgent reform of NATS’ shambolic ATC service,” he added.
The budget carrier’s intervention represents an unprecedented level of criticism from a major airline towards NATS leadership, reflecting growing frustration within the aviation industry about repeated system failures.
Echoes of 2023 Disaster
Wednesday’s failure bears uncomfortable similarities to the August 2023 meltdown that became one of the worst air traffic control disasters in UK history. That incident, caused by a software glitch in the flight planning system, forced controllers to process flight plans manually rather than automatically, leading to the cancellation of over 1,500 flights.
The 2023 failure cost airlines an estimated £100 million in compensation and left passengers stranded for days as aircraft and crew were scattered out of position across Europe. An independent review later identified multiple failings in NATS’ contingency planning and called for urgent improvements to system resilience.
Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey referenced the previous incident, calling Wednesday’s disruption “utterly unacceptable” and demanding an urgent investigation. “With thousands of families preparing to go on a well-earned break, this just isn’t good enough. The public deserve to have full confidence in such a vital piece of national infrastructure,” he said.
Government Response and Passenger Rights
Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander confirmed she was monitoring the situation, warning passengers that “continued disruption is expected” despite the system being restored. I have been informed systems have now been restored but continued disruption is expected, and passengers should check with individual airports for advice,” she said.
The disruption raises questions about passenger compensation rights. Under UK regulations, flights departing or arriving at a UK airport, or those operated by UK airlines arriving in the EU, are subject to rules concerning delays or cancellations. However, airlines may claim exemptions for “extraordinary circumstances”, according to the Civil Aviation Authority.
Travel expert Paul Charles, chief executive of The PC Agency, warned that the recovery process would be complex and time-consuming. “Long-haul traffic above short-haul traffic usually, because those long-haul aircraft are carrying more passengers,” he explained, noting that airlines would prioritise international flights during the recovery phase.
Systemic Problems at NATS
The Swanwick control centre, which opened in 2002 after years of delays and cost overruns, has suffered multiple software-related failures throughout its operational history. The facility manages air traffic across southern England, including the congested London airspace, making any technical failure particularly disruptive.
NATS handles over 2.5 million flights and 250 million passengers annually across UK airspace and the North Atlantic. The organisation divides UK airspace into three Flight Information Regions, with Swanwick managing the London region covering England and Wales – the busiest and most complex airspace in Europe.
Wednesday’s incident has reignited debate about the resilience of UK aviation infrastructure and whether sufficient investment has been made in backup systems and contingency planning since the 2023 disaster.
Airlines and Airports Scramble
As the evening progressed, airlines and airports worked frantically to manage the crisis. Heathrow advised passengers to “check with their airline before travelling” and apologised for the inconvenience, whilst other airports issued similar warnings about ongoing delays.
One frustrated passenger stuck on the tarmac at Heathrow posted on social media: “Going nowhere as no departures from @HeathrowAirport for the last 40 minutes. Apparently ‘the radar isn’t working’. @British_Airways crew being fab.”
The timing of the failure could hardly have been worse, occurring during the peak summer holiday season when airports operate at near capacity. With little slack in the system, even a brief 20-minute outage creates ripple effects that can persist for hours or even days.
As passengers faced another evening of uncertainty and delays, questions mounted about whether NATS had adequately addressed the vulnerabilities exposed by the 2023 failure. With Ryanair’s call for leadership change and political pressure building, the latest incident may prove a watershed moment for UK air traffic control.
Sky News has approached NATS for a response to Ryanair’s demands for resignation.
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Image Credit:
Boeing 737 MAX 8-200 (9H-VVI) from Ryanair – Photo by Lukas Rebec (PlanePix.sk), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
