Ryanair boss demands ‘overpaid, failing’ air traffic chief be sacked after UK airport crisis

Ryanair called the Nats back-up system is ‘useless’ after more than 2,000 flights were affected as the result of a technical issue

Sep 11, 2026 - 21:15

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Ryanair boss demands ‘overpaid, failing’ air traffic chief be sacked after UK airport crisis

Ryanair’s CEO has called on the transport secretary to sack “overpaid, failing” Nats CEO Martin Rolfe following days of flight chaos caused by an air traffic control issue.

Michael O’Leary, the boss at Europe’s largest airline, has called upon transport secretary Heidi Alexander to “dismiss Martin Rolfe and put someone competent to run National Air Traffic Services (Nats) air traffic control services” in a new video posted to YouTube.

Mr O’Leary accused Nats and its chief executive, Mr Rolfe, of giving two contrasting explanations as to why its air traffic control systems experienced a technical issue on 8 September, the third major technical fault in three years.

“Nats’ air traffic controllers have already told our ops’ controllers it’s a re-run of something similar to what happened in 2023. It’s a bogus flight plan that has brought down the system.

“And yet the overpaid failure Martin Rolfe, who runs Nats, is out there telling us ‘oh no, it’s something entirely different’,” Mr O’Leary said.

A Nats spokesperson confirmed to The Independent it was not the same issue as 2023, when more than 700,000 passengers saw their flight plans disrupted after Nats suffered a technical glitch while processing a flight plan.

The spokesperson said the issue this week had affected the flight data system.

“This is the same Martin Rolfe who told the Houses of Parliament Transport Committee in 2023, that the 2023 system collapse was a one-off event,” Mr O’Leary continued.

“He also assured parliament that if it does happen again, there’ll be an effective backup system.”

“We’ve learned this week that there was no backup system,” Mr O’Leary claimed. “Your assurances are worthless.”

The claim that Nats does not have a backup system could not be independently verified.

Mr O’Leary also criticised Ms Alexander for asking Mr Rolfe to come up with a report in one week on what caused the aviation issues. “That’s like asking a failed student to mark his own exam paper,” Mr O’Leary said.

“Martin Rolfe has demonstrated again and again and again over the last three years that he is incompetent. He is not fit to run UK air traffic control, and he’s certainly not the person to repair whatever is going wrong with this shambolic system.

“The airlines are facing hundreds of thousands of discommoded passengers, cancelled flights, claims for compensation and right-to-care expenses.”

Ryanair said more than 65,000 of its passengers had been disrupted and it had cancelled more than 250 flights during travel chaos this week.

Around 2,163 flights were affected during the technical issue on Tuesday, with delays and cancellations continuing into Wednesday, 9 September at airports including Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted and Manchester.

A Nats spokesperson said: “Due to the continued efforts of airlines, airports and others across the industry, recovery of the aviation network is proceeding well. We recognise that some passengers are still experiencing disruption, and we apologise sincerely to all those affected by Tuesday’s technical issue.

“We are very much aware of the additional pressure this has placed on colleagues across the industry, and thank them for their continued hard work. A full investigation is already underway. We will report to the Secretary of State for Transport and Civil Aviation Authority next week.”