Ryanair cancels 50 flights as 65,000 passengers stranded

Ryanair has been forced to cancel 50 flights on Tuesday, with some 65,000 of their customers left stranded. The travel chaos resulted in the airline launching a seething attack on NATS (National Air Traffic Services) CEO Martin Rolfe amid, what they claim is 'repeated mismanagement' of the organisation. Dublin Airport took to social media to warn travellers of delays 'in and out' of the airport. Ryanair has been forced to cancel 50 flights on Tuesday, with some 65,000 of their customers left stranded. Pic: Toni. M/Shutterstock The delays come amid a 'technical issue' which has resulted in flights across many UK airports being grounded on Tuesday. Heathrow Airport and Gatwick Airport have both had flights grounded, while Manchester Airport and Edinburgh joined Dublin Airport in warning of knock-on delays. A statement from Ryanair confirmed the cancellation of 50 scheduled flights on Tuesday, leaving more than 65,000 of their passengers stranded. Dublin Airport. Pic: Dublin Airport The budget airline called for the resignation of Mr Rolfe amid what they said was 'yet another UK ATC system failure.' Ryanair Chief Operations Officer Neal McMahon questioned how many more failures were needed before the NATS CEO 'accepted responsibility for his repeated mismanagement and resigns.' Mr McMahon said: 'Over three years after NATS' catastrophic 2023 system meltdown, it's clear that nothing has changed, with UK passengers once again suffering avoidable ATC delays of up to 8 hours today. Heathrow Airport and Gatwick Airport have both had flights grounded, while Manchester Airport and Edinburgh joined Dublin Airport in warning of knock-on delays. Pic:'Families travelling on holiday, people travelling for work and thousands of visitors to the UK have once again paid the price for NATS' abhorrent failure.' Mr McMahon hit out at NATS for continuing to charge airlines and passengers more annually 'while delivering a worse service.' The Ryanair COO said: 'Following the 2023 collapse, we were told lessons would be learned. We were told 'resilience would improve.' We were told the systems had been fixed. ℹ️ Technical issue We have implemented a fix and our flight system is starting to recover. We are continuing to work closely with our airline and airport customers on recovery. (1/2) https://t.co/MEDLS3UUWT