Low-cost airline Ryanair has cancelled more than 170 flights due to a French air traffic control strike, affecting more than 30,000 passengers. Irish carriers say cancellations on Thursday and Friday will affect flights to France, while domestic flights are flights to destinations such as the UK, Greece, Spain and Ireland.
Ryanair CEO Michael O'Leary updated his call to EU Commission Chairman Ursula von der Leyen to take “emergency action” to reform European Union Air Traffic Control (ATC) services in light of the chaos that will come at the beginning of the European summer holidays.
O'Leary said:
“As a result of another French ATC strike, it is unacceptable that flying over French airspace on the way to its destination has been cancelled/delayed.
“That makes no sense and is abundantly unfair for EU passengers and families to go on holiday.”
Ryanair has been campaigning for years to overhaul ATC services across Europe.
The EU hopes to ensure that ATC services are fully deployed in the first wave of daily departures, protecting turbulence during ATC strikes around the country.
“These two great reforms will eliminate 90% of all ATC delays and cancellations, and with yet another French ATC strike, protecting EU passengers from these repeated avoidable ATC disruptions,” O'Leary added.
Ryanair also said on Wednesday that it had been hit by a recent conflict in the Middle East, cancelling more than 800 flights last month.
It is one of them who canceled and rerouteed flights amid the Israeli-Iran conflict, amid the ongoing attacks in Gaza.
Last week, flights were suspended at Dubai Airport in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) as passengers were told to expect further delays and cancellations.
Ryanair still operates more than 109,000 flights in June, indicating that less than 1% of flights were affected.
The Ireland-based business carried 19.9 million passengers in June, up 3% in the same month last year.
This is when Ryanair, Europe's largest low-cost airline, announced it would increase its free cabin baggage allowance.
