Ryanair has said that 30,000 of its passengers have had their travel plans disrupted by the latest strike by air traffic controllers in France, today, and has reiterated its call for European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to urgently reform mainland European ATC services.
Ryanair said nearly all of the disrupted passengers, today, were not flying to or from France, but merely passing through French airpsace en route to their destination.
Almost 20% of EU flights overfly France, yet French minimum services do not protect overflights during French ATC strikes – as other EU States like Greece, Italy and Spain do – Ryanair said.
Earlier this month, French ATC strikes forced the cancellation of 1,500 flights which cancelled the travel plans of over 270,000 EU citizens and their families. Ryanair said 90% of these cancellations would have been avoided if overflights over France were protected during French ATC strikes.
“It is unacceptable that less than two weeks later, a further 30,000 passengers’ travel plans have been disrupted due to yet another “recreational” French ATC strike,” Ryanair said.
The airline said Ms von der Leyen “has a duty to protect the single market for air travel and to keep the upper airspace over France open so that passengers who are not travelling to/from France can continue to fly during these repeated French ATC strikes.”
