Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary has slammed air traffic control (ATC) provider Nats for the “unacceptable” disruption caused over the past two days.
In a video message, the chief executive described Monday as “a very difficult day” with 250 flights cancelled, while a further 70 were axed on Tuesday.
He said: “We have been in contact with UK Nats.
“We still haven’t had an explanation from them (about) what exactly caused this failure yesterday and where were their back-up systems.
“It’s not acceptable that UK Nats simply allow their computer systems to be taken down and everybody’s flights get cancelled.”
In a video message, the chief executive described Monday as “a very difficult day” with 250 flights cancelled, while a further 70 were axed on Tuesday.
He said: “We have been in contact with UK Nats.
“We still haven’t had an explanation from them (about) what exactly caused this failure yesterday and where were their back-up systems.
“It’s not acceptable that UK Nats simply allow their computer systems to be taken down and everybody’s flights get cancelled.”
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NewsTranscript
00:00 So good morning everybody this is Michael O'Leary I'm speaking to you from
00:03 the Ryanair operations centre here in Dublin Airport. It's Tuesday morning
00:07 we've had a very difficult day yesterday due to the UK NATS ATC failure. I'm sad
00:13 to report that we had to cancel about 250 flights affecting the flights about
00:17 40,000 passengers because of long delays to flight plans, crews running out of
00:23 hours. Last night we had 20 aircraft that couldn't get back to their home bases so
00:28 they're out of place for today. Today unfortunately it looks like we're going
00:32 to cancel about another 70 flights that's a very small number out of the
00:36 3,200 flights we're planning but that doesn't mean we're not doing everything
00:40 we possibly can to try to minimize the disruption for our passengers and their
00:43 families. Everybody has received email communications from us through their
00:48 bookings on what your rights and what your entitlements are. We're looking to
00:51 run a couple of additional extra flights today, rescue flights. It's very difficult
00:56 because we're tight on crews, we're also tight on aircraft but our teams at every
01:01 airport and here in the ops centre doing everything we can to minimize the delays
01:05 the cancellations to flights. We hope by the end of today, Tuesday, that from
01:09 tomorrow we'll be running a normal operation 3,200 flights with minimal
01:14 delays but please bear with us. We understand how inconvenient and how
01:18 difficult it is for you if you're caught in one of these flight cancellations or
01:21 flight delays. It is sadly outside of our control. We have been in contact with UK
01:25 NATS. We still haven't had an explanation from them what exactly caused this failure
01:29 yesterday and where were their backup systems. You know it's not acceptable that
01:34 UK NATS simply allow their computer systems to be taken down and everybody's
01:38 flights get cancelled and delayed. So my sincere apologies on my behalf, on behalf
01:42 all of our teams to those passengers who are affected. If you need flight
01:46 information get it on your Ryanair app today and rest assured we're doing
01:50 everything we can to minimize delays, to minimize flight cancellations, to get you
01:54 and your families to your destination and get our schedules back on time
01:57 hopefully by close of late today. Thank you.