The Latest Breaking News from Martin Rolfe

What caused the air traffic outage? Airlines ‘extremely disappointed’ after passengers stranded by cancellations

British Airways cancels some Thursday flights to and from Heathrow while Ryanair demands resignation of Nats CEO

The Independent UK · Jul 31, 2025

Transport Secretary to meet Nats head after air traffic control glitch

Heidi Alexander said that she will meet with Martin Rolfe to ‘understand what happened and how we can prevent reoccurrence’.

Evening Standard · Jul 31, 2025

UK air traffic control failure: Traveller rights after more than 150 flights cancelled

An air traffic control outage sent UK airports into chaos on Wednesday, with warnings that disruption could continue for days.

Euronews · Jul 31, 2025

Ryanair sues air traffic control body Nats over 'terrible' flight delays

Ryanair vows to claim compensation costs back after air traffic control meltdown last August

Evening Standard · Apr 24, 2024

Ryanair's O'Leary calls for head of UK air traffic system to go after August delays hit 0.7 million passengers

Working from home added to the impact of August’s delays, says independent report

Evening Standard · Mar 14, 2024

Airlines rage about bank holiday Monday air traffic control meltdown

‘The numpties at Nats didn’t tell us. We had to find out from someone else that they’d crashed their system,’ says Ryanair’s Michael O’Leary

The Independent UK · Oct 18, 2023

Michael O’Leary accuses Nats boss of ‘incompetence’ in furious row over air-traffic control failure

‘Your system engineers were sitting at home drinking tea instead of being onsite and ready to deal with a total system failure,’ says Ryanair boss in heated exchange of letters

The Independent UK · Oct 18, 2023

Ryanair boss calls for air traffic control chief to resign amid Gatwick flight disruption

The Dublin-based airline called for Nats chief executive Martin Rolfe to ‘step down’ after flight numbers were capped at Gatwick

Evening Standard · Sep 27, 2023

Nats should be embarrassed over cancellation of 164 flights at Gatwick

The mission-critical nature of air traffic control surely means that you have standby staff in place in case of sickness

The Guardian - UK · Sep 26, 2023

COVID outbreak among ATC staff causes flight chaos at London Gatwick

The airport will process 164 fewer flights than planned after COVID-19 and other illness put 30% of ATC staff out of action.

Fortune · Sep 26, 2023