Arsenal's Champions League opener against Napoli was thrown into disarray on Tuesday after a UK air traffic control technical fault delayed the team's flight to Italy, with over 1,000 flights grounded across the country.
The Gunners were due to depart for Naples ahead of their first European match of the season, but the widespread disruption left players waiting at the club's training facility before eventually heading to the airport.
Arteta's press conference delayed
Manager Mikel Arteta had been scheduled to address journalists at a press conference in Naples on Tuesday evening, alongside defender Riccardo Calafiori. However, the technical malfunction forced a change of plans, with the team not expected to arrive in the Italian city until around 9.30pm local time (8.30pm UK time).
The disruption was caused by a "system issue" in Nats' flight processing system, which manages air traffic control for 15 UK airports. Nats confirmed the problem was resolved by 7.30pm, but not before more than 400 flights had been affected.
Thousands stranded at UK airports
Flight monitoring website Flightradar24 indicated that more than 1,000 flights had been scrapped at UK airports by roughly 8pm. Passengers were left "trapped" on aircraft on runways for hours, while others were "stranded" at terminals across the country.
Ryanair disclosed that over 65,000 of its customers had been impacted, with the low-cost carrier forced to cancel more than 50 planned services. British Airways (BA) also confirmed it had to cancel or reroute more than 100 flights on Tuesday, affecting "tens of thousands of customers".
Nats CEO takes responsibility
Nats' chief executive officer Martin Rolfe declared he "always" accepts "full responsibility" following the technical fault. "I am the CEO of a piece of critical infrastructure, so it is my job to take responsibility for that," he said.
"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."
However, Neal McMahon, Ryanair's chief operating officer, demanded Mr Rolfe's resignation, 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?"
McMahon added: "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."
Government response and next steps
Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander is set to meet with Mr Rolfe on Wednesday, ahead of addressing MPs in the Commons for the second reading of the Civil Aviation Bill. Mr Rolfe maintained that airlines themselves would be best positioned to shed light on when the ongoing disruption is likely to be resolved.
