Britain's air traffic control chief Martin Rolfe is clinging to his job after a technical meltdown at Prestwick grounded hundreds of flights.
Thousands of airline passengers were left stranded across the United Kingdom after a connectivity issue hit the National Air Traffic Services control centre in Scotland.
Prime Minister refused to back Mr Rolfe yesterday following the second major operational breakdown in two weeks. Unlike the last glitch at NATS, which is 49 per cent owned by the taxpayer, Andy Burnham did not ride to Mr Rolfe's defence.
Asked why Mr Rolfe has not been sacked, the Prime Minister told reporters: "Well these are clearly serious issues and they need to be fully investigated, and I know the Transport Secretary is taking these issues extremely seriously."
The Prime Minister added: "Further issues today do cause even greater concern, but initially this is a matter for the Transport Secretary to get to the bottom of what is behind this and why there has been a recurrence."
Earlier, the Prime Minister's spokesman called the disruption "deeply frustrating" and insisted that national infrastructure must be "fit for purpose".
Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander also expressed concern over the incident. She said: "I know this will be deeply frustrating for passengers after the previous issue." The Department for Transport oversees British transport policy and public infrastructure.
Demands for Chief Executive to Resign
Chief executive Martin Rolfe was already facing calls to quit after a computer error forced the cancellation of 2,000 flights 13 days ago. Airline executives expressed growing anger yesterday as the latest failure unfolded.
Ryanair boss Neal McMahon said more than 25,000 passengers were affected and 140 of its flights delayed. Ryanair operates extensive European routes out of UK airports.
McMahon criticized the air traffic chief directly over the repeated disruptions. He said: "Martin Rolfe has presided over repeated system failures, repeated passenger disruption and repeated failures to deliver an effective back-up system."
The airline chief added: "Enough is enough. Martin Rolfe should resign today."
Beleaguered Mr Rolfe, 54, has presided over four major system failures in recent years. He remains the highest-paid air traffic controller in Europe, earning £1.4million last year and more than £6million over the past five years.
By comparison, his Dutch counterpart Joost Meijs, who manages air navigation services in the Netherlands, receives £225,000 a year.
Widespread Disruption Across UK Airports
Aviation analytics firm Cirium reported that EasyJet was the worst-affected airline following the glitch. British Airways, Scottish regional carrier Loganair, Ryanair, Irish flag carrier Aer Lingus and Dutch airline KLM also suffered major delays and cancellations.
Flight cancellations and severe delays were reported across the country. Affected locations included London City, Heathrow, Luton, Manchester, Liverpool, Bristol, Glasgow, Edinburgh and Belfast airports.
Among the passengers stranded by the system failure were Barbara Ann Stoddart and Andrew Lithgow, who were traveling to Las Vegas for their wedding. Their flight from Glasgow to London Heathrow was cancelled, causing them to miss their transatlantic connection.
Ms Stoddart voiced her frustration following the flight cancellation. She said: "I'm completely stressed out."
Industry Calls for Infrastructure Reforms
Tim Alderslade, chief executive of industry body Airlines UK, described the air traffic control system as "critical national infrastructure" which "must be resilient enough to keep people moving."
Alderslade warned of the systemic problems facing the aviation sector. He said: "Yet another NATS failure is causing delays and disruption for passengers and airlines alike, and comes just days after its report into the most recent major outage. Passengers and airlines deserve better."
He added that inquiries into other recent failures "must address the underlying weaknesses in the system." NATS provides air traffic control services for aircraft flying in UK airspace and over parts of the North Atlantic.
Passengers affected by the chaos are unlikely to receive financial compensation. According to the UK Civil Aviation Authority, compensation will not be paid because the disruption was caused by an "extraordinary circumstance."
NATS stated that the incident was being treated "very seriously." A spokesman added: "In the real world we accept technology can and sometimes does fail. Our job is minimising disruption where possible."
