The boss of the UK’s main air traffic control provider has ‘ruled out’ a cyber attack as the cause of a technical problem as widespread flight disruption continued today.
Martin Rolfe, the under-fire chief executive of National Air Traffic Services (NATS), promised there would be a ‘very, very thorough investigation’ into the issue.
He will speak to Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander today after facing calls to resign following the cancellation of some 1,300 flights to and from UK airports yesterday.
Tens of thousands of passengers were caught up in the travel mayhem after a system issue hit NATS, which provides air traffic control services to 15 UK airports.
Chaos continued today with more cancellations and delays as airlines deal with the knock-on impacts at hubs including Heathrow, Gatwick, Manchester and Stansted.
Some 246 flights had been cancelled at Heathrow Airport by 6am this morning while Gatwick passengers faced 33 cancellations, according to FlightRadar.
Mr Rolfe told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: ‘We will be doing a very, very thorough and full investigation. We have at this point ruled out cyber, we don’t believe it was a cyber attack.
‘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.
Passengers wait at London Heathrow Airport yesterday during flight delays and cancellations
Nats chief executive Martin Rolfe has promised a ‘very, very thorough and full investigation’
Cancelled flights are listed on a check-in display board at Heathrow Terminal Three yesterday
‘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.’
In a separate interview with Sky News, he added that he ‘always accept(s) full responsibility’ when asked if he was considering his position after the incident.
Mr Rolfe said: ‘I am the CEO of a piece of critical infrastructure, so it is my job to take responsibility for that.
‘What I absolutely take responsibility for is keeping people safe and delivering the best service we possibly can on a day like today.
‘You will understand my focus is entirely about how we actually resolve this issue, get things back to normal, help our airlines, our airport customers and the travelling public.’
This morning, Heathrow advised travellers to check their flight status before heading to the airport.
‘Following yesterday’s NATS technical issue, flights are operating today, but some disruption may continue as airlines reposition aircraft and crew,’ it said in a statement on social media.
‘Please check your flight status with your airline before travelling to the airport and only travel if your flight is confirmed to be operating.
‘We apologise to those affected and have extra colleagues across our terminals to support passengers while we work with NATS and airline partners to restore normal operations as quickly as possible.’
Gatwick also said flights had resumed but disruption was likely to continue.
Delayed passengers queue with their luggage at Heathrow Airport’s Terminal Three yesterday
Passengers wait for updates at Heathrow yesterday amid major disruption due the Nats issue
Its statement said: ‘We still anticipate that it will take time for our operations to fully return to normal. Passengers should continue to check with their airlines for more information regarding their flights.’
Luton Airport confirmed early this morning that the airport was ‘open and operational’, but said: ‘Some flights may still be subject to disruption and passengers are advised o check their flight status directly before travelling to the airport.’
Travel journalist Simon Calder said the knock-on effects today were ‘going to be horrible’.
He told Sky News: ‘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 disrupted and it had cancelled more than 50 scheduled flights.
British Airways (BA) said it was forced to cancel or divert more than 100 flights on Tuesday which had impacted ‘tens of thousands of customers’.
Mr Rolfe has been under fire from Wizz Air and Ryanair after the latest issue which saw some passengers trapped on planes on runways for hours.
Neal McMahon, Ryanair’s chief operating officer, called on Mr Rolfe to resign, saying: ‘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.’
Last night, NATS said on X: ‘Work is continuing to assist airlines and airports recover from today’s disruption.
‘This has been a very complex recovery and has created difficulties for the whole aviation network, from which it will take time to recover.
‘We apologise again for the disruption caused. Passengers should check with their airline on the status of their flight tonight or tomorrow.’
Ms Alexander is set to speak with Mr Rolfe today before she addresses MPs in the Commons for the second reading of the Civil Aviation Bill.
Among the thousands facing disruption yesterday was Josie Donoghue, who had to get off her flight to Ireland after spending three hours on the runway at Gatwick.
Ms Donoghue said: ‘Getting through that 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.
‘It’s just an absolute nightmare down there, it’s the only word I can use to describe it.’
Have you been affected? Email lettice.bromovsky@dailymail.co.uk
