UK airports were impacted on Tuesday due to a major technical problem that hit air traffic control systems.09:34, 09 Sep 2026Updated 10:06, 09 Sep 2026The uproar comes after thousands of flights in the UK were grounded.‌Across the country on Tuesday (September 8), thousands of people were affected by disruptions at multiple airports after a technical issue with the air traffic controller NATS.‌Following the incident, some airlines are now calling for a complete overhaul of the organisation, as this wasn’t the first time an event like this has occurred.‌During Wednesday’s BBC Breakfast, Jon Kay and Nina Warhurst spoke to Ryanair’s Chief Operating Officer, Neil McMahon, to speak about how their airline has been affected so far. He told the BBC star that due to another IT failure at NATs, they had over 200 flights cancelled.Neil shared that, as a result, over 200,000 passengers were disrupted due to very few flights from midday to 8 o’clock at night. He then went on to take aim at NATS boss Martin Rolfe.He commented: “The key question we’re asking is, do we trust Martin Rolf to continue to prevaricate and to pretend he’s going to fix these issues. Enough is enough, we’ve had four IT failures over the last three years, really significant ones which have closed our UK airspace.‌“From our perspective, the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting Martin Rolfe to fix this; he won’t, and it’s time for him to go.”Jon highlighted that there will be thousands of people who agree with Neil, before questioning whether changing the top management at NATs at a time like this would cause more confusion and chaos.‌He replied: “No, I think it’s exactly what’s needed. Three years ago, there was a major UK failure in August 2023. There was an investigation by the CAA and the transport committee, and promises were made by Martin Rolfe that he was going to fix this.“Here we are three years later, and the exact same issue happens again, another problem with the flight plan. The question is, where is the resilience? Where’s the backup system? Why did it not work? And, why were UK passengers, travelling to and from work or on holidays, why are they the ones who continue to suffer?”‌The Ryanair executive told Jon that they’ve had no similar instances in other countries. He stated that it continually happens in the UK at this scale, which is why they are asking for change.Giving an update on how the flights are now with Ryanair, Neil explained that things are returning to normal for them, but he is aware that other airlines will take a little longer. He added, “We’re planning to operate our full schedule today, and we think there will be minimal disruption.“We’ve invested heavily in resilience and extra staff, more standbys over the last number of years, so we’re planning to operate a full schedule today and will move those disrupted passengers as best as we can today.”‌Following the tech issue, Martin Rolfe has apologised for the widespread disruption as he told the Today Programme: "Inevitably, things do go wrong in complex systems. We never want them to. We always hope they won’t, but we absolutely plan for them to and make sure we handle them properly.”"I would say the UK has one of the best reputations in the world for its air traffic control service, both from a safety perspective and from a resilience perspective. NATS was actually a partial privatisation 25 years ago, and since that point, it’s had access to funding.Article continues below"We’ve invested way more than a billion in technology over that time, our service has consistently improved. Our safety is consistently improved from a very good base. But all of those things don’t detract from the fact that when these things happen, it is disappointing and upsetting, for which I apologise."A spokesperson from NATS said: "We recognise the significant disruption experienced by airlines and passengers and have apologised sincerely. Our immediate focus is on supporting the safe recovery of the aviation network."BBC Breakfast is available to watch weekdays on BBC One from 6am.