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UK NATS Boss Has Confidence of Govt, Downing Street Says
Martin Rolfe will answer questions after a technical failure cancelled 1,300 flights and disrupted tens of thousands of passengers, airlines said.
On Wednesday, Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander will meet Nats CEO Martin Rolfe following widespread flight cancellations caused by a technical issue on Tuesday affecting thousands of passengers across UK airports.
Nats provides air traffic control services to 15 UK airports from Swanwick and Whiteley; a system malfunction on Tuesday resulted in the cancellation of 1,300 flights to and from UK airports.
Ryanair chief operating officer Neal McMahon called for Rolfe to resign, citing "repeated mismanagement," while British Airways cancelled or diverted more than 100 flights on Tuesday, impacting "tens of thousands of customers."
Rolfe apologized for the disruption but avoided questions regarding his resignation, stating "Inevitably, things do go wrong in complex systems" while defending the UK's air traffic control reputation on Wednesday.
Transport Secretary Alexander will address MPs in the Commons today regarding the Civil Aviation Bill, while Rolfe promised a "thorough" investigation and ruled out a cyber attack as the cause.