The Gunners faced flight delays ahead of their clash with Napoli as thousands of passengers have had flights delayed or cancelled due to an air traffic control outage
LUTON, ENGLAND - SEPTEMBER 08: Bukayo Saka, Noni Madueke, Eberechi Eze and Ezri Konsa of Arsenal board the team flight to Italy for the UEFA Champions League fixture against SSC Napoli at Luton Airport on September 08, 2026 in Luton, England. (Photo by Stuart MacFarlane/Arsenal FC via Getty Images)
The players heading to board a plane after flight delays
Arsenal's flight to Italy for their upcoming Champions League game against Napoli was disrupted as more than 1,000 flights were cancelled due to technical issues
The Gunners faced delays in catching their flight to Naples because of air traffic control issues which left thousands of people stranded across the UK.
Manager Mikel Arteta was due to speak to journalists at a press conference in Naples on Tuesday evening, alongside defender Riccardo Calafiori, ahead of their opening European fixture of the season.
LUTON, ENGLAND - SEPTEMBER 08: Martin Odegaard, Kai Havertz, Viktor Gyokeres and Ben White of Arsenal board the team flight to Italy for the UEFA Champions League fixture against SSC Napoli at Luton Airport on September 08, 2026 in Luton, England. (Photo by Stuart MacFarlane/Arsenal FC via Getty Images)
The Arsenal team boarded the plane later than expected after delays
However due to the technical failure players remained at the club training ground, leaving later for the airport.
This meant the team were not expected to arrive in Naples until around 9.30pm local time (8.30pm UK time).
Nats, which provides air traffic control services to 15 UK airports, has confirmed the issue is now "resolved" after disruption was caused to over 400 flights.
The “system issue” on Tuesday was resolved by 7.30pm however, thousands remain impacted by the delays and cancellations at UK airports.
Many passengers have been left 'trapped' seated on planes on runways for hours with other passengers 'stranded' at airports.
There was chaos at UK airports due to the issue(Image: Jordan Pettitt/PA Wire)
Flight monitoring website Flightradar24 said more than 1,000 flights had been cancelled at UK airports by about 8pm.
Ryanair said more than 65,000 of its passengers had been disrupted and it had cancelled more than 50 scheduled flights.
British Airways (BA) said it was forced to cancel or divert more than 100 flights on Tuesday which had impacted “tens of thousands of customers”.
Nats' chief executive officer Martin Rolfe said he “always” accepts “full responsibility” after the technical issue caused huge disruption to flights.
He said: “I am the CEO of a piece of critical infrastructure, so it is my job to take responsibility for that.
“What I absolutely take responsibility for is keeping people safe and delivering the best service we possibly can on a day like today.
Crowds at Gatwick Airport(Image: w8media)
“You will understand my focus is entirely about how we actually resolve this issue, get things back to normal, help our airlines, our airport customers and the travelling public.”
Neal McMahon, Ryanair’s chief operating officer, called on Mr Rolfe to resign, saying: “How many more failures do passengers have to suffer before overpaid failure Nats CEO Martin Rolfe accepts responsibility for his repeated mismanagement and resigns?
“Over three years after Nats’ catastrophic 2023 system meltdown, it’s clear that nothing has changed, with UK passengers once again suffering avoidable ATC (air traffic control) delays of up to eight hours today due a critical Nats ATC system failing.”
Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander is due to speak with Mr Rolfe on Wednesday before she addresses MPs in the Commons for the second reading of the Civil Aviation Bill.
Mr Rolfe said airlines would be able to provide the best information on how long the ongoing impact would take to resolve.