Ryanair calls for NATS CEO Martin Rolfe to quit as Gatwick NATS system fails once more
Ryanair renewed its call for NATS CEO Martin Rolfe to quit (or be removed by the UK government) as the Gatwick Air Traffic Control (ATC) system collapsed again on 9 December delaying hundreds of flights and thousands of passengers at London Gatwick Airport today.
Ryanair CEO, Michael O’Leary said: “After the August NATS system failure Martin Rolfe claimed it was a 1 in 15 million tech glitch. Yet here we are again 3 months later, and UK NATS fails again at Gatwick. Thousands of passengers today face long delays, diversions, and cancellations as NATS under Martin Rolfe’s incompetent leadership fails again. It’s time for Martin Rolfe to go. At an annual package of over £1.5m this clown has repeatedly shown he is incompetent. If he won’t quit, then transport minister Mark Harper (who owns 50% of NATS) should fire him. These repeated UK NATS system failures are unique to the UK and are not repeated in any other European ATC service. Our passengers want a competent UK ATCH service and Martin Rolfe has repeatedly shown he can’t deliver it. He should go and let someone competent run UK ATC.”