Ryanair forced to cancel 230 flights due to French ATC strike

James Cox

Over 40,000 passengers were left stranded yesterday after Ryanair was forced to cancel 230 flights.

The airline said the cancellation of flights across the EU was due to "yet another French air traffic control strike".

Over the weekend, over 25 per cent of Ryanair's 9,000 scheduled flights were delayed due to the disruptions, disrupting travel plans for 41,000 people.

Ryanair is now calling on the EU Commission to take action to protect EU citizens and overflights.

The airline condemned "repeated French ATC strikes". Ryanair added that French domestic flights are protected by minimum service legislation, however, "overflights from Germany, Spain, Italy, the UK and Ireland are cancelled solely because a tiny French ATC union repeatedly closes the skies over Europe".

Ryanair has called for minimum advance strike notice "to allow airlines to reschedule flights or advise passengers".

A Ryanair spokesperson said: “Ursula von der Leyen and the EU Commission repeatedly claim that the Single Market is a priority for Europe. In negotiations around Brexit, the Single Market was the EU Commission’s priority. However, every time French ATC goes on strike, the Single Market for air travel over Europe is disrupted, yet the EU Commission sits on its hands taking no action.

"When the French government uses minimum service legislation to protect French flights, why does Ursula von der Leyen and the EU Commission stand idly by and allow EU overflights to be disproportionately cancelled on a daily basis? We call on the Commission to take legal action against France and its ATC unions, to protect EU overflights.

"Innocent EU passengers travelling from Germany to Spain, or from Ireland to Italy, are entitled to rely on the EU’s Single Market for air travel, and their overflights should not be repeatedly cancelled because the EU Commission fails to take action to defend the Single Market."