Ryanair CEO calls for NATS boss Martin Rolfe to resign over ATC outages
Ryanair CEO Michael O'Leary has called for NATS chief Martin Rolfe to resign after repeated air traffic control outages, while NATS blames a software defect for the latest failure.
The Full Story
A plain summary built from the channels that reported this story.
Ryanair chief executive Michael O'Leary has called for the head of NATS, Martin Rolfe, to resign after a second major air traffic control failure this week brought flights to a standstill. O'Leary said Rolfe, who he described as an 'overpaid CEO', takes full responsibility for failures but does not act on it.
O'Leary said Rolfe 'won't resign' and 'keeps taking an eight hundred thousand annual bonus'. He said the NATS boss is 'rewarded the more times he fails'. He called on Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander to dismiss Rolfe and hire an outside person to run an efficient NATS operation. He also said NATS has no backup when its system fails.
O'Leary said the NATS board is 'full of the great and good of UK aviation' but none of them know about software or running a large computerised network. He said change is needed at the top, and that more lessons or six-month reports from the Civil Aviation Authority are not enough. He wants the management replaced with new, efficient management.
O'Leary estimated the costs of recent outages to Ryanair. The outage on 8 September cost about £4.5 million in care compensation. This week's outage cost about £2 million. The July 2023 outage cost about £7.5 million.
NATS said the outage earlier this month was caused by a software defect. The company said its systems are now operating normally and it is working on a permanent fix.
In the same interview, O'Leary also discussed other issues. He said regional mayors taxing visitors for overnight stays would be double taxation, because visitors already pay £15 in Air Passenger Duty. He apologised for comparing high fare airlines to rapists, saying he used the word carelessly. He also said Ryanair would be the same without him because it has a strong management team.
On screen
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Key Claims
Claims reported during this story's coverage, mapped by channel. Ordered by how many channels carried each claim.
| Claim | Channel 5 |
|---|---|
| NATS said an outage earlier in the month was caused by a software defect. | |
| O'Leary said NATS had no backup system in the event of a system failure. | |
| Ryanair CEO Michael O'Leary urged NATS chief Martin Rolfe to resign. |
Channel Perspectives
What each channel focused on, with key quotes.
The channel gave Michael O'Leary a long interview slot to demand Martin Rolfe's resignation, airing his criticisms in detail. It also included a brief NATS response at the end. The segment covered other topics like Air Passenger Duty, tourism taxes, and O'Leary's apology, but the ATC row was the main news hook.
- “Martin Rolfe, the overpaid CEO, says he takes full responsibility for these failures, yet doesn't. He won't resign.”
- “We're calling on Heidi Alexander. End this. Dismiss him.”
- “The air traffic control company, NATS, says the outage earlier this month was caused by a software defect and that its systems are now operating normally.”
Who was on air
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- 17:33 BST
Michael O'leary, CEO of Ryanair
“Martin Rolfe, the overpaid CEO, says he takes full responsibility”
5 News with Dan Walker · Wed 23 Sept
Broadcast Timeline
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