Ryanair chief urges sacking of UK air traffic control boss

Ryanair chief executive Michael O’Leary has renewed demands for the dismissal of the head of the United Kingdom’s air traffic control provider after repeated system failures and staff shortages caused days of disruption, cancellations and delays for tens of thousands of passengers across UK airports.

Fresh calls for leadership change after latest outage

According to company statements and market filings, Ryanair has called on UK Transport Minister Heidi Alexander to remove National Air Traffic Services (NATS) chief executive Martin Rolfe following a major air traffic control failure on 8 September 2026 that triggered widespread disruption in UK airspace. The airline argues that the latest breakdown, described as a flight plan processing failure, is the fourth significant NATS system issue reported this year and evidence of what it characterises as repeated mismanagement and a lack of resilience in the country’s air traffic infrastructure.

Ryanair reports that the most recent outage forced the cancellation of more than 50 of its flights and disrupted journeys for over 65,000 of its customers, with knock on effects across several days as aircraft and crews were left out of position. A separate announcement distributed to investors indicates the carrier is pressing for accountability at board level, saying passengers continue to bear the cost of technical faults and staffing gaps that are outside airlines’ direct control.

Publicly available information from traffic tracking services shows that the 8 September problem followed an earlier incident in June, when a system failure affecting NATS operations at Bristol led to multiple diversions and delays of more than three hours for thousands of Ryanair passengers. The airline contends that these events underline what it views as a pattern of repeated disruption since a major nationwide air traffic control collapse in August 2023.

Long running clash between Ryanair and NATS

The latest intervention continues a long running campaign by O’Leary for a change at the top of the UK air navigation provider. Company press releases dating back to 2024 document multiple episodes in which Ryanair publicly urged Rolfe to resign or be removed, usually after technical failures or staff shortages led to delays and cancellations at key airports such as Gatwick and regional hubs including Bristol.

Coverage from UK media in 2024 shows that previous flashpoints included a weekend of disruption at London Gatwick attributed to NATS staffing shortages, when O’Leary called for the air traffic control chief to quit and argued that airlines and passengers were paying for under resourced operations. The carrier has also repeatedly highlighted the cost of the August 2023 national outage, which Ryanair has said forced the cancellation of hundreds of its flights and generated a multi million euro hit to its finances.

Industry commentary indicates that criticism from Ryanair has often focused on what the airline describes as inadequate investment in both primary and backup systems, despite regulatory reviews and commitments to strengthen resilience after the 2023 failure. In public documents, the carrier has framed UK and broader European air traffic control disruption as a structural risk for airlines that already contend with capacity constraints, volatile fuel prices and infrastructure bottlenecks at busy airports.

Impact on passengers and broader UK travel network

The latest NATS failure on 8 September came at a busy period for late summer travel, with data from flight tracking portals suggesting that more than 1,000 flights to, from or within the UK were cancelled or severely delayed on the day of the incident. Reports indicate that congestion and knock on disruption then extended into subsequent days, affecting both short haul and long haul services and leaving passengers facing rebookings, overnight stays and missed connections.

Under UK and European air passenger regulations, airlines are generally not required to pay cash compensation for delays and cancellations caused by air traffic control failures, which are typically classified as extraordinary circumstances outside carriers’ control. However, airlines remain responsible for providing care and assistance, including refreshments and accommodation where necessary, when passengers are stranded. This can result in significant additional costs for operators even when they are not deemed at fault.

Consumer groups point out that for travellers the distinction between airline responsibility and air traffic control accountability is often unclear. When systems fail or staffing gaps emerge, passengers primarily interact with airlines at airport desks or via apps rather than with NATS directly. This has led to calls from some quarters for clearer communication protocols and consistent messaging across airlines, airports and air traffic management when major disruptions occur.

Regulatory scrutiny and resilience questions

The renewed dispute has revived scrutiny of how the UK regulates and oversees its air traffic control services. Following the August 2023 UK wide outage, an independent review commissioned by the Civil Aviation Authority identified what it described in public documents as serious weaknesses in resilience, governance and incident management at NATS. The review recommended a series of technical and organisational changes intended to make the system more robust in the face of unexpected data inputs or equipment failures.

Subsequent NATS statements have indicated that the provider has been implementing improvements, including software changes, enhanced monitoring and revised contingency procedures. However, Ryanair argues that the recurrence of serious incidents in 2026 suggests progress has been insufficient and that further reform is required, including leadership change and closer oversight of investment in critical systems.

Analysts note that the UK is not alone in facing air traffic control challenges. Across Europe, operators have grappled with ageing infrastructure, staffing shortages and increasing traffic during peak seasons. Airlines have frequently complained about knock on delays and capacity constraints, while air navigation providers emphasise funding pressures and recruitment bottlenecks in specialist roles such as controllers and systems engineers.

What comes next for UK air traffic control

Transport policymakers now face pressure to demonstrate that the causes of repeated failures are being addressed. Industry observers expect the latest 8 September outage to trigger fresh internal and external reviews of NATS’ systems, alongside questions about whether previous recommendations from regulators and independent experts were fully implemented. There is also likely to be debate about the balance between cost control and investment in redundancy for core flight data processing infrastructure.

For airlines, the central concern remains reliability. Ryanair and other carriers have argued in public filings and commentary that frequent air traffic control disruption undermines schedule planning, inflates operating costs and erodes passenger confidence at a time when demand for leisure and business travel remains strong. Some have called for revised performance targets and financial incentives linked to delay metrics, aiming to align the interests of air navigation providers with those of their airline customers.

Passengers, meanwhile, are being advised by travel industry bodies to allow extra time when travelling through busy UK hubs during peak periods and to monitor airline apps and airport information screens closely for last minute changes. While large scale system failures remain relatively rare in the context of the total number of flights handled each day, the concentration of disruption when they do occur means individual travellers can experience significant inconvenience when critical air traffic control infrastructure falters.

Ryanair corporate statement on NATS leadership

Ryanair release on Bristol ATC system failure

Market announcement on Ryanair call for NATS CEO to be sacked

Background coverage of earlier calls for NATS chief to resign