Michael O'Leary urges Transport Secretary to dismiss Martin Rolfe following repeated air traffic control failures
Michael O'Leary, the boss of Ryanair, has called on Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander to dismiss Martin Rolfe, the chief executive of National Air Traffic Services (Nats). The request follows a computer meltdown that caused more than 2,000 flights to be cancelled this week, marking the third major failure in three years. Mr. O'Leary described Mr. Rolfe as an "overpaid failure" and criticized the lack of a back-up system. While Mr. Rolfe has stated he will accept full responsibility for the incident, he has not ruled out resigning. The government, which owns a49% stake in Nats, has supported Mr. Rolfe thus far. The Civil Aviation Authority has warned that passengers are unlikely to be entitled to compensation because the outage was considered an extraordinary circumstance. However, Aviation Minister Keir Mather told MPs that the disruption was unacceptable and requested an independent review. Nats reported that the issue was not caused by a cyber attack. The failure impacted major airports including Heathrow, Stanwood, Gatwick, Birmingham, and Manchester.
Sources
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Michael O’Leary demands sacking of ‘incompetent’ air traffic control chief
Yahoo
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Air traffic chaos and compensation: 'Shutdown cost us more than £1,000'
BBC
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UK air traffic chief rules out cyber attack after massive disruption at Heathrow
cnbc.com