Ryanair has reiterated its call for the European Commission to act after having to cancel a number of flights due to the ongoing air traffic controller (ATC) strikes in France.
Ryanair confirmed that it was forced to cancel a small number of flights due to the strikes, which started on Monday and are due to only end tomorrow.
The airline wants European Commission head Ursula von der Leyen to protect passengers and flights against disruption caused by frequent ATC strike action.
Ryanair has proposed three measures for the EC to take:
Require French ATC unions to engage in binding arbitration instead of strikes
- Protect French overflights (under minimum services laws)
- Allow Europe’s other ATCs to manage overflights over France while French ATC unions strike
Ryanair Director of Operations, Neal McMahon said: “We have had to cancel a small number of our 2,500 daily flights as a result of yet another pointless French ATC strike, the third already this year.
“It is inexplicable that French Air Traffic Control can once again hold European passengers and visitors to ransom. Even passengers who are not flying to/from France are impacted because they overfly French Airspace at a time when French laws protect French domestic flights.
“The European Commission must step in and to preserve the Free Movement of People by protecting overflights from these needless strikes. Protecting overflights, as done in Italy and Greece, is the simplest and most effective solution to avoid unnecessary mass disruption and must be implemented to protect passengers.”
