Aviation minister ridiculed as it emerges he boasted about air traffic control being 'well prepared' and given 'increased resilience' - just a day before it went into meltdown, stranding thousands of travellers

Labour was ridiculed today as it emerged the aviation minister boasted about giving Britain’s air traffic control ‘increased resilience’ – just a day before it went into meltdown.Keir Mather said the air traffic control system was ‘well prepared’ after ministers introduced new laws in a bid to prevent a repeat of a previous meltdown in 2023.He made the comments in response to a written Parliamentary question, unearthed by the Mail, on Monday.But just 24 hours later the system went into meltdown after a four-hour technical failure at National Air Traffic Services (NATS), forcing the cancellation of more than 2,000 flights.More than 330,000 passengers were hit by cancellations and delays over several days as airlines struggled to recover at major airports, including Heathrow, Gatwick, Manchester and Stansted.Mr Mather was appointed the aviation minister last September despite being aged just 27 – making him the youngest serving minister since William Gladstone in 1834 – and having no background in the sector.In the Parliamentary question, he was asked what steps had been taken ‘to reduce the risk of widespread flight disruption caused by air traffic control failures’. Aviation minister Keir Mather said air traffic control was ‘well prepared’ and had 'increased resilience' - just a day before Tuesday's meltdown Thousands of passengers were left stranded or delayed, with many sleeping on airport floors, during the fallout of the meltdown NATS boss Martin Rolfe, who received £1.4million in pay and bonuses last year, has come under fire over the latest meltdown He insisted 34 recommendations made in a review by regulator the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) after the 2023 meltdown had all been implemented, adding that the aviation sector – including NATS – was ‘well prepared to respond to incidents when they occur in the future’.He also boasted about new laws which came into force in December, making it easier for air traffic controllers to be recruited from other countries and the military, adding: ‘This will increase resilience in the UK’s Air Traffic Controllers system and reduce the risk of delays.’But during Tuesday’s meltdown, NATS appeared to be no better prepared than the previous fiasco three years ago.Tory shadow transport secretary Richard Holden said: ‘Labour are victims of their own supreme hubris.‘Hundreds of thousands of passengers have been left on aircraft for hours, or faced cancelled and delayed flights because the supposed resilience Labour ministers talked up failed when it was needed most.‘Labour ministers can’t have it both ways: if they boast about systems they created when they’re working they should take responsibility when they fail.’NATS boss Martin Rolfe, who received £1.4million in pay and bonuses last year, has also come under fire over the latest meltdown.He has faced growing calls to resign from his post after also presiding over the 2023 meltdown, which affected more than 250,000 passengers.The August bank holiday failure that year was sparked when a small piece of incorrect data set off a mass system failure lasting just a few hours.Another incident under Mr Rolfe’s leadership affected hundreds of flights in July last year and was blamed on a radar-related failure.It was only a 20-minute outage but the knock-on effect caused some 250 flights to be cancelled.The bosses of Ryanair and Wizz Air have been among those calling for Mr Rolfe to be sacked.Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander ‘read him the riot act’, according to sources, after hauling him into Whitehall on Wednesday morning.But she has dismissed calls for him to be sacked, instead giving him a week to compile a report into the fiasco to hand to her by Wednesday.NATS, which serves 15 UK airports, has said the fiasco was sparked after its flight-processing system failed.It has left thousands of travellers and holidaymakers out of pocket because the CAA said that under passenger rights rules, the issue is 'likely to be considered the result of extraordinary circumstances'.It added: ‘This means that although passengers should be looked after by airlines, they are unlikely to be entitled to compensation.’The Department of Transport directed the Mail to comments made by Ms Alexander today while speaking to LBC, in which she said: ‘Earlier this year I was assured that all of those [CAA] recommendations were implemented.‘The CAA produced reports in March and June of this year which I reviewed carefully but something has gone wrong here clearly.‘We need to get to the bottom of it and you know I think it's my responsibility as the Transport Secretary acting on behalf of passengers who will be rightly angry and frustrated, and the airlines, to make sure that I hold NATS and also the Civil Aviation Authority to account.’NATS is a public-private partnership, with the government holding the controlling stake. The rest is split between a group of UK airlines including BA, easyJet and Virgin Atlantic as well as Heathrow and NATS staff.