Ryanair CEO accuses NATS chief of lying about UK outage
In the United Kingdom, Ryanair chief executive Michael O'Leary accused Martin Rolfe, the head of air traffic control operator NATS, of lying about the causes of an outage that led to the cancellation of thousands of flights earlier this week.
As Daily Maverick reports, O'Leary said NATS told Ryanair that the incident was caused by an anomalous flight plan. He claims it was the same problem that caused major disruptions in 2023.
Different versions of the causes of the outage
The day before, Rolfe said on BBC Radio that, in his view, the latest outage had been caused by a different problem than previous incidents. O'Leary, who has repeatedly called for Rolfe to resign, rejected this explanation. He said the NATS chief was denying the anomalous flight plan version to protect himself.
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Commenting on a similar statement by O'Leary a day earlier, NATS said that the latest outage had a different cause. The operator did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the Ryanair CEO's new remarks.
Investigation and lawsuit
NATS's investigation into the 2023 incident found that it had been caused by a rare situation — one occurrence in 15 million. The flight plan contained two separate route points with identical names, causing the main and backup systems to switch into safe mode.
Ryanair is suing NATS in the High Court of London, seeking more than £7 million over the 2023 outage. The airline also called on the operator to reinvest its profits in improving operations and increasing staff. The government gave Rolfe a week to investigate the causes of the new outage, while Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander asked the Civil Aviation Authority to conduct an independent review.
