Due to a strike by French air traffic control, Ryanair has cancelled more than 300 flights scheduled for Thursday, the airline said.
The low-cost airline added that the cancellations would affect around 50,000 passengers across Europe, as strikes in France restrict flights not only within and outside the country, but across the continent.
Ryanair called on the European Union to reform its airspace by legally protecting overflights during air traffic control strikes and allowing other European air traffic controllers to manage flights in French airspace.
“French air traffic controllers can strike, that is their right, but we should cancel flights to France, not flights from Ireland to Italy or flights from Germany to Spain or from Scandinavia to Portugal,” Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary said in a statement on Wednesday.
“The European Commission under Ursula von der Leyen has failed for five years to take action to protect overflights and the internal market for air transport,” he added.
“We again call on them to take measures to protect overflights, which could avoid over 90 percent of these flight cancellations.”
📢 French air traffic control strike forces cancellation of over 300 Ryanair flights, affecting 50,000 passengers!
This evening we announce the cancellation of over 300 flights due to tomorrow’s French air traffic control strike on Thursday 25 April.
Statement by Michael O’Leary: pic.twitter.com/2dP61taAQN
— Ryanair (@Ryanair) 24 April 2024
Several airlines had to cancel flights, although SNCTA, France’s largest air traffic controllers’ union, called off the April 25 strike after reaching an agreement with management on working conditions.
The French civil aviation authority said on Wednesday it had asked airlines to cancel 75 percent of flights on Thursday at Paris’ Orly airport, 55 percent at Charles de Gaulle airport and 65 percent in Marseille.
The agency said the agreement with SNCTA came too late to avoid traffic disruptions and that talks with other unions were ongoing.
“While the withdrawal of the strike announcement may provide some relief for some passengers, its short-term triggering means there will still be significant disruption to air travel in France and parts of Europe,” Ourania Georgoutsakou, head of industry group Airlines for Europe, told Reuters.
Due to air traffic control strikes in Europe, up to 16,000 flights were cancelled and 85,000 delayed last year.
Airline officials have expressed concern that air traffic control strikes could pose a threat to the Paris Olympics unless adequate agreements are reached in advance. The Games begin at the end of July.
O’Leary previously said The Independent that British passengers can expect higher airfares this summer.
“I think that’s likely given the capacity cuts across Europe this summer with the grounding of 20 percent of the Airbus fleet,” the Ryanair boss said.
“Because of Boeing’s delivery delays, we are short of aircraft. But I don’t think people will mind paying more than they did this time last year if they get better service in return.”
“It’s still a good deal in terms of inflation in other parts of the UK or European economies. And if you look at the weather here in the UK over the last three or four months, people are keen to get to the beaches of Europe’s sunny destinations for a well-earned holiday,” he added.
