Ryanair has called on the UK's air traffic control chief to step down following Wednesday's radar failure that caused travel chaos.
A "radar-related" issue left thousands of travellers in limbo for over four hours - with National Air Traffic Services (Nats) revealing late on Wednesday that there was "no evidence that this was cyber-related".
Now, Ryanair's chief operating officer Neal McMahon has said that it was "clear that no lessons have been learnt" from other crises that have gripped Nats in recent years.
During the August bank holiday weekend in 2023, one of the busiest travel times of the year, an IT meltdown at Nats grounded numerous flights and impacted over 700,000 passengers.
And following the chaos, McMahon also called for reforms at Nats to avoid "preventable delays" for travellers in future.
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PICTURED: Passengers at Heathrow Airport amid disruption from the Nats IT meltdown in 2023
McMahon also labelled Nats's CEO, Martin Rolfe, as being "out of his depth" and said he "must step aside to make way for someone who can do the job properly".
McMahon said: "It is outrageous that passengers are once again being hit with delays and disruption due to Martin Rolfe’s continued mismanagement."
He also added that if Rolfe does not resign on his own accord, then the Transport Secretary should step in to ensure he is removed.
Rolfe, who has been in his post since 2015, has been under fire previously for Nats's recruitment policy, with the boss conceding that it meant that the organisation "spent a lot of time working on our diversity and inclusion agenda".
The recruitment policy has been blamed for causing severe staff shortages in air traffic control.
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|Rolfe has previously admitted that Nats 'spent a lot of time working on our diversity and inclusion agenda'
EasyJet labelled Wednesday's fiasco as "extremely disappointing", while an insider at British Airways said that "Nats are responsible for the radar, so you have to say that the buck stops with them".
Ryanair's chief executive, Michael O'Leary, has called on Rolfe to step aside on a number of occasions, including in the aftermath of the 2023 IT incident.
O'Leary slammed Rolfe for allowing key engineers at Nats to work from home during the disruption, accused him of being "overpaid" and labelled him a "clown".
An independent report commissioned by the Civil Aviation Authority in the aftermath of the IT meltdown said that the chaos that unravelled was a "major failure" on Nats's part.
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|Ryanair's chief executive, Michael O'Leary, has called on Rolfe to step aside on a number of occasions
The report, which was published in November, handed the organisation 34 recommendations, including telling Rolfe to provide warnings earlier to any future disruptions.
It also called for reviews into the air traffic control service's allocation of engineering resources and back-up plans.
Ryanair called on the air traffic control service to compensate their passengers and carriers impacted by the malfunction.
GB News has approached Nats for comment.