Ryanair's Michael O'Leary slams air traffic control chaos as ‘unacceptable’

Travel disruption could last for days after flights were cancelled leaving passengers stranded following an air traffic control technical fault.

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.” 

Just under 100 flights into and out of Dublin Airport were cancelled due to the issue, while more than 10 flights in both Cork and Shannon were also axed.

By Monday afternoon, 232 flights departing UK airports had been cancelled and 271 arriving flights, according to aviation analytics firm Cirium.

It is estimated that 15,000 passengers were affected by delays and cancellations in Ireland.

Speaking from the airline’s operations centre at Dublin Airport, Mr O’Leary went on: “We’ve had a very difficult day yesterday due to the UK Nats ATC failure.

“I’m sad to report that we had to cancel about 250 flights affecting the flights of about 40,000 passengers because of long delays to flight plans, crews running out of hours.

“Last night we had 20 aircraft that couldn’t get back to their home bases so they’re out of place for today.

“Today, unfortunately, it looks like we’re going to cancel about another 70 flights.

“That’s a very small number out of the 3,200 flights we’re planning but that doesn’t mean we’re not doing everything we possibly can to try to minimise the disruption for our passengers and their families.” 

He added: “We hope by the end of today, Tuesday, that from tomorrow we’ll be running a normal operation.”

Travel disruption could last days as minister warns of 'major' knock-on effect

Britain’s National Air Traffic Services (NATS) had “identified and remedied the technical issue” by 4pm on Monday but the knock-on effect of the glitch was still having repercussions.

The use of UK airspace was restricted as a safety measure.

On Monday Juliet Kennedy, operations director at Nats, said the issue meant the automatic system that provides controllers with details of every aircraft and its route had stopped working, and what happened will be investigated “very thoroughly”.

She also apologised for the impact on people’s travel plans.

Under EU law, airlines must offer affected passengers refunds, or a seat on the next available flight, or at a later time of the passenger's choosing. 

If a passenger wants to be put on the next available flight, the

airline must provide meals and accommodation until the alternative flight is provided.

The DAA – which manages the airports in both Cork and Dublin – has urged passengers to check with their airlines to establish the status of their flights.

Minister of State for Transport Jack Chambers warned of a “major” knock-on impact.

“Traffic flow restrictions have been introduced to maintain safety in the sky and it will have significant impacts on passengers flying in and out of Dublin, and there are multiple slot restrictions,” Mr Chambers said.

Ryanair has hit out at what it describes as "another UK Air Traffic Control failure".

“We sincerely apologise for this UK ATC failure which is beyond Ryanair’s control and is affecting all airlines operating to/from the UK," a spokesperson for the airline said. 

Social media was flooded with people saying they were stuck on planes on the tarmac during a busy travel period as the school holidays drew to a close.

Among those impacted were several Irish athletes returning from the athletics World Championships in Budapest.