Wizz Air calls for "urgent reform of Nats" after UK flight disruption

Wizz Air Holdings PLC on Wednesday called for reforms to UK air traffic control, saying the main provider is currently "not fit for purpose" after a technical issue led to widespread flight cancellations.

According to flight monitoring website Flightradar24, some 1,300 flights to and from UK airports were axed on Tuesday after a technical issue affecting the National Air Traffic Service, disrupting travel for tens of thousands of passengers.

The problems continued on Wednesday, with further cancellations and delays expected due to knock-on impacts at airports including Heathrow, Gatwick, Manchester and Stansted.

UK Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander is set to speak with Nats Chief Executive Martin Rolfe, who apologised for the issue but refused to say if he would resign in a BBC Radio 4 interview. He also ruled out a cyber attack as the cause of the issue.

Budapest-based budget airline Wizz released a statement at the London market open on Wednesday, saying it "is extremely disappointed that another Nats technical failure has caused widespread disruption across the UK aviation network".

Highlighting that the problem was "entirely outside airlines' control", Wizz said: "This is not the first time Nats has failed during a peak summer period, and here we go again. A critical national infrastructure provider should not repeatedly bring the aviation system to a standstill.

"Nats is simply not fit for purpose in its current form."

Wizz Air said that Nats requires "urgent reform," particularly in light of the UK government's "ambition to expand UK aviation capacity", adding: "Airlines, passengers and airports cannot continue to bear the consequences of recurring system failures."

Wizz shares were down 2.5% at 1,027.00 pence on Wednesday morning in London.

Earlier on Wednesday, Ryanair Holdings PLC said more than 65,000 of its passengers had been disrupted, after it cancelled more than 50 scheduled flights.

Ryanair Chief Operating Officer Neal McMahon called for Rolfe's resignation, commenting: "How many more failures do passengers have to suffer before overpaid failure [Rolfe] accepts responsibility for his repeated mismanagement and resigns?"

Chief Executive Michael O'Leary went further, saying UK Transport Secretary Alexander "must today demand that failing Martin Rolfe must quit, or be dismissed."

O'Leary said: "It is time for his removal, and it is time that somebody competent was appointed to run UK ATC, which is one of Europe's most expensive ATC systems, and yet it keeps repeatedly failing."

Ryanair shares were down 1.7% to EUR22.86 in Frankfurt.

Shares of British Airways-owner International Consolidated Airlines Group SA were down 1.6% to 418.40p.

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