The Chief Executive of National Air Traffic Services (NATS), the UK’s largest controller of air traffic, has been summoned to meet the country’s Transport Secretary, Heidi Alexander. This follows a complete shutdown of NATS’ systems Tuesday Sept. 8, which saw nearly 2,000 flights cancelled. Airline bosses, including Ryanair’s CEO Michael O’Leary have called on NATS’ CEO Martin Rolfe to resign.
What is Happening Today?
Rolfe will be required to explain personally to the Transport Secretary why Tuesday’s flights had to be halted.
Alexander has said that she is,
“seeking assurances that lessons will be learned and systems that support aviation are up to the job.”
A spokesperson for the UK Prime Minister has also said that the government retain full confidence in Rolfe, and that it expects him to file a full report on the failure in a week’s time.
NATS has said that,
“a full investigation will be conducted to establish what happened and identify any further action needed.”
Most airlines had been able to resume normal operations by the morning of Wednesday Sept. 9, but the aviation analytics company Cirium has stated that over 300 UK flights have been cancelled on Wednesday alone.
What Caused the Shutdown?
NATS immediately clarified that it does not believe that the shutdown was caused by a cyber attack.
This has however fuelled speculation that the shutdown has a similar explanation to shutdowns that halted UK flights in 2023 and 2025.
Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary has said that this latest shutdown is “an absolute rerun” of the 2023 shutdown, which was caused by a Flight Planning System Failure.
The July 2025 shutdown was caused by a a radar-related incident, and saw hundreds of flights cancelled, with London Heathrow Airport (LHR) particularly badly affected.
Rolfe has stated that this shutdown was caused by an entirely separate issue however.
“This will be something different that we’ve never seen in 50 years of operation.”
He has told reporters.
Can Rolfe Remain in Post?
NATS is a public-private partnership that is responsible for air traffic control services at 15 UK Airports including LHR.
The government owns only 49% of NATS, with 42% owned by various British airlines, the largest being British Airways, 5% by NATS staff, and 4% by LHR Airports Ltd.
This shared ownership model means that the UK government alone cannot dismiss Rolfe, but with the NATS CEO already being unpopular among some airline bosses, a loss of government support would almost certainly lead to Rolfe’s resignation.
O’Leary has been one of Rolfe’s most vocal critics, saying
“Fire him. He’s been there since 2015. He is useless,”
when asked about Rolfe.
Ryanair are currently suing NATS for £7 million over their handling of the 2023 shutdown.
Easyjet CEO Kenton Jarvis has also voiced his unhappiness with Rolfe after the latest shutdown.
“Airlines have yet again been forced to cancel hundred of flights” Jarvis said. “Due to the third serious NATS technical issue in as many years.”
Rolfe himself has told reporters that he accepts full responsibility for the shut down, but said that he was fully focussed on NATS investigation, when asked about his potential resignation.
Have you been affected by the shutdown? What do you think NATS should be doing about it? Let us know in the comments.
