Arsenal were due to fly to Italy on Tuesday ahead of their Champions League opener against Napoli, but the Gunners’ journey was delayed due to widespread UK air traffic control disruption
Arsenal’s trip to Italy for their upcoming Champions League match against Napoli was delayed as over 1,000 flights were grounded due to extensive technical difficulties.
The Gunners faced substantial delays in leaving for Naples after air traffic control malfunctions left thousands of passengers stranded throughout Britain.
Manager Mikel Arteta had been due to speak to journalists at a press conference in Naples on Tuesday evening, accompanied by defender Riccardo Calafiori, prior to the club’s first European match of the season.
Nevertheless, due to the technical malfunction, players remained at the club’s training facility before setting off later for the airport.
The team were not anticipated to arrive in Naples until around 9.30pm local time (8.30pm UK time).
Nats, which manages air traffic control operations for 15 UK airports, confirmed the issue had been “resolved” after disruption to more than 400 flights.
The “system issue” on Tuesday was fixed by 7.30pm, though thousands of travellers continued to experience delays and cancellations at airports across the UK.
Numerous passengers were left ‘trapped’ sitting on aircraft on runways for hours, while others were ‘stranded’ at airports.
Flight monitoring website Flightradar24 indicated that more than 1,000 flights had been scrapped at UK airports by roughly 8pm. Ryanair disclosed that over 65,000 of its customers had been impacted, with the low-cost airline forced to axe more than 50 planned services.
British Airways (BA) confirmed it was obliged to cancel or reroute more than 100 flights on Tuesday, affecting “tens of thousands of customers”.
Nats’ chief executive officer Martin Rolfe declared he “always” accepts “full responsibility” following the technical fault that sparked widespread flight disruption.
He said: “I am the CEO of a piece of critical infrastructure, so it is my job to take responsibility for that.
“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.”
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?”.
“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.”
Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander is set to sit down 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.
