The chief executive of the UK’s air traffic control provider has dismissed the possibility of a cyber attack after a technical failure grounded flights yesterday, leaving thousands of passengers stranded and airports struggling to restore normal service.
Airlines across the UK are still dealing with the disruption’s after-effects, with further problems expected at Heathrow, Gatwick, Manchester and Stansted.
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Flight schedules in Ireland are also being rebuilt after dozens of arrivals and departures at Cork, Dublin and Shannon airports were disrupted yesterday.
About 90 flights to and from Dublin Airport were cancelled as a result of the failure.
NATS chief executive Martin Rolfe is expected to discuss the technical problem with Britain’s Transport Secretary.
He promised a “very, very thorough investigation” into the failure, which triggered widespread disruption, while insisting that a cyber attack had been “ruled out” as the cause.
Mr Rolfe apologised for the disruption and said the issue had been “resolved as quickly as it could be, but within the limits of making sure that it all stayed safe”.
People impacted by the flight disruption sleep on the floor in Gatwick Airport
Speaking to BBC Radio 4, Mr Rolfe said his immediate priority had been restoring the system and managing the disruption that followed.
“My focus and that of the team has been on both getting our system operating back up normally, which it is now, but there’s obviously a huge tail to the disruption and we’ll be working on that through the course of today,” he said.
“And then our attention will turn to exactly what’s happened in this particular incident.
“What I will say is I don’t believe we’ve ever seen an incident happen more than once, so this will be something different that we’ve never seen in 50 years of operation.”
Asked whether he was considering his position, Mr Rolfe said he “always accept(s) full responsibility”.
Flight monitoring website Flightradar24 reported that 1,300 flights to and from UK airports had been cancelled yesterday after a system failure affected NATS, which provides air traffic control services at 15 UK airports.
According to FlightRadar, 246 flights had been cancelled at Heathrow by 6am this morning, while Gatwick passengers faced 33 cancellations.
Tens of thousands of passengers were caught up in the disruption.
Passengers seen at Heathrow Airport in London
Dublin Airport said it expected almost a full schedule of flights to operate today, although some delays could still emerge as the effects of yesterday’s disruption spread through the network. Passengers have been advised to check their airline’s website for the latest information.
Graeme McQueen, media relations manager at daa, described the situation as challenging during an appearance on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland and warned that knock-on problems could continue across the UK and European network.
He urged passengers to “stay close to their airlines’ apps and websites” and monitor their emails.
“We are expecting pretty much a full schedule today.
“The airlines here, Ryanair, Emerald, and Air Lingus worked very hard to get all their planes back in position for this morning’s busy first wave, which is taking off as normal at the moment. But there is that potential for disruption on the network,” he said.
Mr McQueen said many frustrated passengers had spent the night at the airport, where teams supplied blankets and bottles of water. A sizable number of people remained there, he added.
Aer Lingus cancelled one flight to Malaga, but passengers were moved to a larger aircraft later this afternoon, he said.
Passengers waiting at Gatwick Airport’s south terminal after the cancellations
“We’re still in that sort of end of summer period where it is busy do a lot of people were hanging around, but teams are working very, very hard today again to reaccommodate them,” he said.
Cork Airport said flight operations had returned to normal this morning after nine flights were cancelled yesterday.
A spokesperson said the cancellations involved five inbound flights and four outbound services.
“Normal operations are expected at Cork Airport throughout the day. Passengers intending to travel today are advised to refer to their airline’s website or mobile app for the latest and most up to date flight information,” they said.
Travel journalist Simon Calder warned that the continuing effects of the disruption would be “going to be horrible”.
Speaking to Sky News, he said: “There are going to be dozens of cancellations in the morning of flights coming into Heathrow because, basically, the flights didn’t go out tonight.”
Ryanair said more than 65,000 of its passengers had been affected and that it had cancelled more than 50 scheduled flights.
British Airways (BA) said it had been forced to cancel or divert more than 100 flights yesterday, affecting “tens of thousands of customers”.
UK Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander is set to speak with NATS Chief Executive Officer
Ryanair COO calls on NATS head to resign
Mr Rolfe has faced mounting criticism from Wizz Air and Ryanair after the latest failure left some passengers trapped on aircraft sitting on runways for hours.
Ryanair’s Chief Operating Officer Neal McMahon called for Mr Rolfe to resign.
He said: “How many more failures do passengers have to suffer before overpaid failure NATS CEO Martin Rolfe accepts responsibility for his repeated mismanagement and resigns?
“Over three years after NATS’ catastrophic 2023 system meltdown, it’s clear that nothing has changed, with UK passengers once again suffering avoidable ATC (air traffic control) delays of up to eight hours today due a critical NATS ATC system failing.”
Read more: Ryanair, Wizz Air call for NATS overhaul after UK flight disruption
Among the thousands affected yesterday was Josie Donoghue, who was forced to leave her flight to Ireland after spending three hours on the runway at Gatwick.
Ms Donoghue said navigating her way through the airport “was like trying to get out of Alcatraz”.
“We were trapped in there. We were told we couldn’t get out until the flights were cancelled, and then eventually they allowed us to get out,” she said.
“It’s just an absolute nightmare down there, it’s the only word I can use to describe it,” she added.
