Ryanair mistakenly warns passengers that UK airport has been forced to shut
Ryanair has wrongly warned passengers one of the largest airports in the country closed for the day.
The budget airline issued a statement on Wednesday afternoon stating that "East Midlands Airport is forced to close today causing hundreds of passengers to suffer unnecessary delays". Ryanair blamed the apparent travel hub shut down on "further National Air Traffic Services (NATS) Air Traffic Control (ATC) staff shortages".
It is unclear what Ryanair is referring to however, as East Midlands Airport is running as normal today. In addition, its air traffic control operation is not run by NATS. None of the arrivals or departures today are listed as delayed or cancelled.
An East Midlands Airport spokesperson said: “East Midlands Airport remains open today and all passenger flights are operating as normal. Our Air Traffic Control is staffed in-house, not by NATs, and while we do currently have some staff shortages, these are being managed today by introducing breaks throughout the day. These are timed to not affect any scheduled flights, with just one cargo flight due to be delayed later today.”
Ryanair wrongly claimed the airport was closed (Markus Mainka/imageBROKER/REX/Shutterstock)Ryanair also called for the resignation of Martin Rolfe, the CEO of the aviation firm who has been the subject of many critiques from the airline's boss Michael O'Leary in recent months, since NATS staff shortages caused widespread flight chaos last August.
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"Today’s forced closure of East Midlands Airport due to NATS staff shortages follows the NATS system failure in August last year, which caused cancellations and long delays for hundreds of thousands of UK passengers, as well as repeated NATS staff shortages and a further system collapse at Gatwick on 9 December last year, disrupting thousands more UK passengers unnecessarily," the Ryanair statement sent at 1.04pm read.
"These repeated NATS failures are unacceptable and make clear that it is time for overpaid CEO, Martin Rolfe, to quit or be dismissed and let someone competent take over."
When asked to clarify the statement, a Ryanair spokesperson said that East Midlands Airport's air traffic control was taken out of action between 3pm and 3.30pm, 5.15pm and 6.15pm, and 7.30pm to 8pm. However, East Midlands Airport said this was planned and did not impact any passenger flights.
Passengers found themselves unable to fly and with their holiday plans in tatters in August and September last year due to air traffic controller shortages, partly caused by an outbreak of illness. Many were forced to sleep on the floor of airports including Gatwick amid the chaos. Since then Mr O'Leary has regularly criticised the head of NATS, calling for his resignation at a number of Ryanair press conferences.
Both NATS and Ryanair have been contacted for comment.
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