Former Rolls chief to chair under-fire air traffic control

THE former boss of Rolls-royce has been appointed chairman of Britain’s air traffic control provider as the embattled organisation seeks to repair its reputation.

Warren East will take the helm of Nats, formerly known as National Air Traffic Services, after a meltdown of the company’s systems in August that caused chaos at the country’s biggest airports.

The veteran executive previously ran jet engine maker Rolls from 2015 to 2022, having previously been chief executive of chip designer Arm Holdings.

During his time at Rolls, Mr East spent most of his tenure steering the company through costly problems with its Trent 1000 engines and the financial impact of the pandemic.

He is to replace Paul Golby, who has been chairman of Nats for the past decade, in September.

The departure of Mr Golby comes after Nats was criticised by airlines for its handling of a system failure that affected 700,000 passengers over the August bank holiday.

A review of the incident, published last month, concluded that the IT problems had been prolonged because Nats engineers were working from home. Mr East’s appointment could raise speculation about the position of Martin Rolfe as chief executive of Nats, who has faced calls to resign from low-cost carrier Ryanair.

Yesterday, Mr Rolfe said he was looking forward to working with Mr East, adding: “His knowledge and insight into the aviation sector, the role of critical UK infrastructure and the experience he has of technology-led transformation will be enormously valuable.”

Mr East said: “Aviation is vital to our society and economy, and the essential infrastructure which Nats provides underpins that important function.

“The next decade or so brings huge challenges alongside multiple possibilities as the sector faces the necessity of the energy transition together with the opportunities presented by advancing technology.

“I’m delighted to be joining Nats to work with the board and the Nats team as we navigate through this exciting and crucial period.”

He is expected to oversee the modernisation at Nats as the company – which manages some of the most crowded skies in the world – upgrades its various systems to make flying more efficient.

Nats is a public-private partnership partially owned by airlines, including British Airways and easyjet, pension funds and the Government.