Gatwick Airport air traffic control: I agree with Ryanair's Michael O'Leary that Nats chief should quit - airport passengers deserve better

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I agree with Ryanair’s boss Michael O’Leary that the air traffic control boss should quit - airport passengers deserve better than flights being cancelled and delayed due to staff shortages.

There has been a string of incidents at the UK’s National Air Traffic Service (NATS) which has caused significant flight delays and cancellations affecting thousands of passengers. In December last year flights were grounded and passengers faced hours of delays after a system failure at Gatwick Airport’s air traffic control tower and in August last year a “one in 15 million” system-wide meltdown caused thousands of cancellations across the country’s airspace. 

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Gatwick Airport was forced to cap flights last September for weeks after nearly a third of staff in its air traffic tower were unavailable due to sickness. There were also delays at Heathrow Airport last September too after staff shortages leading to air traffic control restrictions. Last June thousands were stranded due to “unavoidable staff shortage” in the air-traffic control tower at Gatwick airport.

Now today (Monday 9 September) around 3,500 passengers expecting to fly to or from London Gatwick have been affected by delays and cancellations due to air traffic control restrictions. Passengers were told the cause was “air-traffic control restrictions” outside the airline’s control.

I agree with Ryanair’s boss Michael O’Leary that the air traffic control boss should quit - airport passengers deserve better than flights being cancelled and delayed due to staff shortages.I agree with Ryanair’s boss Michael O’Leary that the air traffic control boss should quit - airport passengers deserve better than flights being cancelled and delayed due to staff shortages.
I agree with Ryanair’s boss Michael O’Leary that the air traffic control boss should quit - airport passengers deserve better than flights being cancelled and delayed due to staff shortages. | Getty Images

Nats operates the London Gatwick air-traffic control tower and it needs to do better. Staff shortages causing chaos and disruption to thousands of passengers is not on and should not be happening. It is not fair to passengers and it is not the first time this has happened. It is a re-occurring incident of air traffic control staff shortages causing airport chaos and it is ridiculous that it keeps happening.

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Between Friday and Sunday British Airways also cancelled 240 flights, affecting around 40,000 passengers. On Monday the airline had grounded a further eight departures and arrivals at Heathrow, plus six at Gatwick. One passenger, Mike C, wrote on X, formerly Twitter: “This morning BA cancelled 1pm flight at 4.15am. Helpline not open till 6am. Had to get refund and book with another carrier – cash flow.”

Michael O’Leary is calling on the air traffic control chief to resign and I agree with him. Staff being sick shouldn’t lead to the delays and cancellations that we are seeing time and time again. There needs to be better management. After the meltdown in August last year Nats said it was “very sorry” that staff being off ill “will have an almost immediate impact” on Gatwick Airport and confirmed it is working to a plan agreed with the airport to “deliver further resilience ahead of summer 2024” - but there has been no change in improving passengers’ experiences.

Last year Martin Rolfe, the CEO of Nats, saw his pay double and he took home £1.3 million. On top of his £477,000 basic salary, he received a £281,000 annual bonus. He is paid an extortionate amount and yet passengers are continually paying the price for his mismanagement. It is not acceptable and there needs to be a change to prevent thousands more passengers being affected by ridiculous staff shortages.

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