The UK's National Air Traffic Services (NATS) flight-processing system failed for four hours at its Swanwick control center on September 8, 2026, grounding or delaying nearly 1,000 flights and eventually cancelling around 2,000 across the UK. It was the third major system failure since 2023.
Every airline flying through UK airspace was affected by the same failure, yet carriers had very different responses based on their strategic priorities. British Airways (BA) spent all its energies on its own customers, with the airline openly acknowledging that “our phone lines are extremely busy, as are our chat lines,” as its customer support systems were overwhelmed. It acted like a company trying to preserve customer goodwill, regardless of how messy the execution felt on the ground.
Ryanair's approach and statements largely bypassed its own affected customers and instead focused on blaming NATS. COO Neal McMahon cited 65,000 affected passengers and over 50 cancelled flights as ammunition for a renewed demand that CEO Martin Rolfe resign, saying Rolfe “cannot be trusted to report on his own failings.” CEO Michael O'Leary joined in separately, accusing Rolfe of “telling lies to save his own skin.” A stance Ryanair doubled down on just weeks later when NATS suffered a second major software disruption on September 21.
The two responses, one airline managing its customers and saying nothing about the cause, the other saying nothing to its customers and everything about the cause, are deeply revealing. A crisis forces a company to prioritize its message, and that choice shows where its focus resides. BA acted like a company that prioritizes its customers' goodwill and spent its energy trying to hold onto it, regardless of what you think of its execution.
Ryanair, Europe's largest and most profitable airline, acted like a company that doesn't think it needs to focus on its customers at all. While it is potentially surprising to those that do not know the company, it makes sense as their customers aren't there for a relationship, they're there because no one else is cheaper. There's no goodwill to protect with an apology or even empathy, so none of Ryanair's crisis effort had to go toward it.
Whether you like their strategy or not, it seems to be working in many ways. This has been Ryanair's approach before as it sent the same message after NATS's 2023 failure. Ryanair does not seem weaker for ignoring its customers in moments like this as evidenced by being last in passenger satisfaction surveys yet still thriving. Ryanair never built trust with its customers, so it had none to lose by skipping the apology.
We have seen it play out before when companies were so successful that they decided to deprioritize or ignore customer trust. It can work when times are good, but trust is what you draw on when results falter, or when a new competitor challenges your unique selling advantage. For Ryanair, their choice was not a mistake catching up with them today, but a choice that hasn't been tested yet.
THE BOTTOM LINE
When a crisis hits an industry, each company shows you exactly where its focus lies. British Airways tried to protect its relationship with customers. Ryanair protected nothing but the narrative, because in its case there was no relationship to protect. Both bets can work, but customers will only pay a premium to stay with one of them.
A crisis reveals what matters most to a company, and customers remember which one it chose. -- Michael Rabinowitz
WINNING MOVES
Proactively assess your customer equity. If surveys show trust in your company is low, take steps to correct it, unless you have the rare situation of a long-term competitive advantage that's genuinely fail-safe.
Align crisis communication plans with company strategy. In playing out scenarios and your responses, pay attention to your focus, especially if the customer is absent. A crisis will be remembered by the customer for much longer than any sales promotion.
Stay vigilant even during good times. Strong results are not proof that you have nothing to fix. A bet against building trust can go untested for a long time until it is too late.
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