Chaos in UK airports, after an hours-long air traffic control outage led to the cancellation of at least 2,000 flights and left passengers stranded.
National Air Traffic Services CEO Martin Rolfe has faced criticism following the outage, and there's growing calls for him to lose the role.
UK correspondent Enda Brady says this latest incident cost airlines millions and industry experts and passengers have voiced outrage.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Enda Brady, UK Correspondence with us. Hello, Enda.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
Heather, lovely to chat again.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
Now, do you think this air traffic control boss is
going to quit?
Speaker 2 (00:10):
I think he's toast. There's three million good reasons why
he won't want to go, and that's what he earned
last year, $ 3 million, including bonuses. Martin Rolfe is his name,
and it's happened again. So he promised the last time
that there would be no more glitches, no more meltdowns,
and no more people sleeping in airport terminals across the UK.
And it's happened again this week. The third meltdown or
(00:31):
glitch in three years. The end result is this is
costing airlines tens of millions of dollars. They want him
to go. They're very angry. And the passengers are even
more angry because they've just found out there won't be
any compensation for this. So we've seen 2,000 flights cancelled
in a couple of days in the UK, affecting one
third of a million passengers with the knock-on effects as well.
(00:55):
I think Martin Rolfe probably will go today.
Speaker 1 (00:57):
Ultimately, whose call is it? Who's the person who tells them, right,
your time's up, off you go?
Speaker 2 (01:03):
I would say the Prime Minister will have had a
conversation with the Transport Secretary, Heidi Alexander. She spoke to
Martin Rolfe yesterday, and I would imagine they've spelled it
out to him. It just isn't good enough. I mean, Britain, yes,
there are problems, but we need to be investing more
in the infrastructure. And you're just wondering, you know, they're
saying this wasn't a cyber attack, but who's behind it?
(01:24):
Why does it keep happening? And it just makes the
country look so bad.
Speaker 1 (01:27):
Yeah, it's a fair point you make, actually. Right, so
is Nigel Farage going to have to face the detectives,
do you think?
Speaker 2 (01:34):
The newspapers reckon this new police investigation into alleged foreign
donations being solicited by Reform UK, which Farage was caught
on camera by this undercover sting by Channel 4 broadcast
at last Friday night. Two of his senior aides are gone.
Farage says he wasn't even paying attention to the conversation.
for reform say it's a hoax, it's funded by foreign-funded
(01:58):
climate activists, and that this is yet another example of
the establishment trying to stop reform getting into government. However,
the Metropolitan Police take a different view. There are very,
very strict rules about who can donate to political parties.
in the United Kingdom. Basically, you need to be British
and you need to be living here. And it would
appear that all this kind of skirting the rules, chatting
(02:20):
around the rules, the police don't like it. So there
is an investigation which will run, obviously, in tandem to
the parliamentary watchdog looking at Farage and all the money
from his crypto-billionaire mate. You just wonder, does it pass
the whiff test when people are talking about this down
the pub? Yeah, too right.
Speaker 1 (02:38):
Now, listen, what happened with the young Pakistani cricket guys?
Speaker 2 (02:43):
This is a story that I just cannot believe I'm
about to tell you because it's so embarrassing for this country. Pakistan,
under 19 national cricketers, the best young cricketers around, are
touring England right now, playing England in a test series.
They've been playing in Sussex and their hotel is the
Marriott in Portsmouth. where a group of young Pakistani men
(03:07):
were seen getting off a bus the other day. Word
went round on all these chat groups that migrants and
asylum seekers had been brought ashore, and a mob of
about 60 men turned up. A Reform UK local councillor
went into the hotel and demanded answers from the manager,
and the manager produced documentation to show him that they
(03:28):
are in fact the Pakistan under-19 national cricket team playing England,
and they should be welcomed here. At that point, the
pitchfork mob outside finally, I would imagine very disappointingly, dispersed.
So that is where we are in England right now,
that a touring professional top-class cricket team is mistaken for
(03:50):
dinghy migrants coming across from France. And Heather, the thing
that astonishes me is, These fine young men will have
got off that bus dressed in identical Pakistan cricket kits,
many of them carrying cricket bats. Go figure.
Speaker 1 (04:03):
Yeah, very good point you make, Inder. Inder Brady, thanks, mate.
UK correspondent.
Enda Brady, UK Correspondence with us. Hello, Enda.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
Heather, lovely to chat again.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
Now, do you think this air traffic control boss is
going to quit?
Speaker 2 (00:10):
I think he's toast. There's three million good reasons why
he won't want to go, and that's what he earned
last year, $ 3 million, including bonuses. Martin Rolfe is his name,
and it's happened again. So he promised the last time
that there would be no more glitches, no more meltdowns,
and no more people sleeping in airport terminals across the UK.
And it's happened again this week. The third meltdown or
(00:31):
glitch in three years. The end result is this is
costing airlines tens of millions of dollars. They want him
to go. They're very angry. And the passengers are even
more angry because they've just found out there won't be
any compensation for this. So we've seen 2,000 flights cancelled
in a couple of days in the UK, affecting one
third of a million passengers with the knock-on effects as well.
(00:55):
I think Martin Rolfe probably will go today.
Speaker 1 (00:57):
Ultimately, whose call is it? Who's the person who tells them, right,
your time's up, off you go?
Speaker 2 (01:03):
I would say the Prime Minister will have had a
conversation with the Transport Secretary, Heidi Alexander. She spoke to
Martin Rolfe yesterday, and I would imagine they've spelled it
out to him. It just isn't good enough. I mean, Britain, yes,
there are problems, but we need to be investing more
in the infrastructure. And you're just wondering, you know, they're
saying this wasn't a cyber attack, but who's behind it?
(01:24):
Why does it keep happening? And it just makes the
country look so bad.
Speaker 1 (01:27):
Yeah, it's a fair point you make, actually. Right, so
is Nigel Farage going to have to face the detectives,
do you think?
Speaker 2 (01:34):
The newspapers reckon this new police investigation into alleged foreign
donations being solicited by Reform UK, which Farage was caught
on camera by this undercover sting by Channel 4 broadcast
at last Friday night. Two of his senior aides are gone.
Farage says he wasn't even paying attention to the conversation.
for reform say it's a hoax, it's funded by foreign-funded
(01:58):
climate activists, and that this is yet another example of
the establishment trying to stop reform getting into government. However,
the Metropolitan Police take a different view. There are very,
very strict rules about who can donate to political parties.
in the United Kingdom. Basically, you need to be British
and you need to be living here. And it would
appear that all this kind of skirting the rules, chatting
(02:20):
around the rules, the police don't like it. So there
is an investigation which will run, obviously, in tandem to
the parliamentary watchdog looking at Farage and all the money
from his crypto-billionaire mate. You just wonder, does it pass
the whiff test when people are talking about this down
the pub? Yeah, too right.
Speaker 1 (02:38):
Now, listen, what happened with the young Pakistani cricket guys?
Speaker 2 (02:43):
This is a story that I just cannot believe I'm
about to tell you because it's so embarrassing for this country. Pakistan,
under 19 national cricketers, the best young cricketers around, are
touring England right now, playing England in a test series.
They've been playing in Sussex and their hotel is the
Marriott in Portsmouth. where a group of young Pakistani men
(03:07):
were seen getting off a bus the other day. Word
went round on all these chat groups that migrants and
asylum seekers had been brought ashore, and a mob of
about 60 men turned up. A Reform UK local councillor
went into the hotel and demanded answers from the manager,
and the manager produced documentation to show him that they
(03:28):
are in fact the Pakistan under-19 national cricket team playing England,
and they should be welcomed here. At that point, the
pitchfork mob outside finally, I would imagine very disappointingly, dispersed.
So that is where we are in England right now,
that a touring professional top-class cricket team is mistaken for
(03:50):
dinghy migrants coming across from France. And Heather, the thing
that astonishes me is, These fine young men will have
got off that bus dressed in identical Pakistan cricket kits,
many of them carrying cricket bats. Go figure.
Speaker 1 (04:03):
Yeah, very good point you make, Inder. Inder Brady, thanks, mate.
UK correspondent.
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