Interesting as most of Ryanair's competitors would be on the receiving end of any claim it makes.
Ryanair demands Nats compensates for delays
Andrew Clark
Friday May 24, 2002
The Guardian
"Ryanair has written to the transport secretary, Stephen Byers, demanding compensation for air traffic control problems which have forced it to cancel dozens of flights.
The Irish airline has lost patience with national air traffic control services following a software problem on Friday which caused widespread disruption at airports.
Ryanair said the incident, the fifth glitch this year, caused it to cancel 51 of its 314 scheduled flights. It says 7,000 of its customers were unable to travel and a further 25,000 suffered delays of up to four hours.
It wants Mr Byers to force Nats to refund fares amounting to around £350,000. Ryanair is the first airline to break ranks by openly criticising Nats.
Friday's disruption was caused by an overnight software update which went wrong at Nats' new Swanwick control centre in Hampshire.
The marketing director, Tim Jeans, said: "This was a poor management decision and they lacked any backup. It was frankly incompetent to do it on a Thursday night, prior to the busiest day of the week."
Ryanair is the second largest carrier in passenger terms at Britain's airports, behind British Airways. Most UK airlines, including BA, BMI British Midland and EasyJet, are in a consortium which bought a 46% stake in Nats in a part-privatisation last year and so are reluctant to criticise Nats.
There was no comment from the Department for Transport last night. Nats referred inquiries to the government."
ES
