Ryanair issue further delays apology saying 'again' amid flight chaos

Ryanair has apologised to passengers who "continue to suffer" following mass flight delays and cancellations caused by ATC (air traffic control) staff shortages. This is an ongoing problem for the budget airline who saw similar complaints in August and are now forced to apologise again.

Ryanair blame the ATC staff shortages for affecting all European airlines. They also blasted the chief executive of ATC provider NATS (National Air Traffic Services) Martin Rolfe calling for his immediate resignation.

According to the airline today,Tuesday Sep 10, 11% of Ryanair's first wave departures (63 of 566 aircraft) were delayed due to ATC "staff shortages". This follows similar chaos on August 5 where 101 of its 584 first wave departures were delayed.

READ MORE: Full list of Birmingham roads that are officially the worst for speeding drivers

A statement posted on X on September 9 read: "Weekend chaos for Air Traffic Control - AGAIN! Staff shortages at UK NATS caused multiple delays & cancellations at Gatwick yesterday, the latest in a long line of failures.

"UK NATS CEO, Martin Rolfe, we again call for your immediate resignation."

A statement posted on the Ryanair website said: "Ryanair, Europe's No.1 airline, on Tue 10 Sep apologised to its passengers for the excessive flight delays caused by European ATC staff shortages today Tue 10 Sep which is affecting all European airlines.

"ATC services, which have had the benefit of no French ATC strike disruption this summer, continue to underperform (despite flight volumes being 5% behind 2019 levels) with repeated "staff shortages".

"On Tue 10 Sep, 11% of Ryanair's first wave departures (63 of 566 aircraft) were delayed due to ATC "staff shortages". These repeated flight delays due to ATC mismanagement are unacceptable.

"We apologise to our passengers for these repeated ATC flight delays which are deeply regrettable but beyond Ryanair's control. We encourage passengers to visit atcruinedourholiday.com and demand that the EU Commission take urgent action to improve Europe's ATC system."

A spokesperson for EUROCONTROL, who support European aviation, said: "We are not in a position to analyse what happened across the European network or to provide specific comment on causes of delay today.

"However, what we can say is that for the 3 months of summer (June-July-August), traffic grew by 4.8% across the continent as a whole when compared to 2023, averaging 34,042 flights per day. In some areas, traffic grew by 20%.

"Delays were up across the summer due to a combination of factors: saturation, structural capacity shortfalls, unexpected traffic growth in some areas, significant convective weather (thunderstorms etc.), less airspace available for re-routings due to the war in Ukraine, increased military activity and exceptional sickness levels in one air navigation service provider.

"EUROCONTROL will continue to work intensively with all aviation stakeholders on improving the performance of the European Aviation Network – and to ensure that passengers get to their destinations safely and with the least possible delay."