Several flights between Ireland and France cancelled amid air traffic control strike

A French air traffic control strike is leading to a number of cancellations across Europe and in Ireland.

People travelling over French airspace on Monday are being asked to contact their airline for the latest information.

Dublin, Belfast and Cork airports are likely to be affected with some Aer Lingus and Ryanair flights grounded.

Flights to Lourdes, Nimes, Carcassonne, Nice, Toulouse, Bordeaux and Paris have already been cancelled on Monday.

In a statement on Saturday, Ryanair chief executive Michael O’Leary criticised the impacts of the ongoing strikes by French air traffic control staff as “completely unacceptable”.

“The French authorities have told us we must cancel another 220 flights, most of them are overflying France,” he said.

“That means another 40,000 passengers on the May bank holiday weekend are going to have their flights cancelled because of French ATC strikes,” he said.

Michael O'Leary: ''We've been notified by the French Aviation Authorities of the 51st day of striking, on Monday May 1st, and that we must cancel another 220 flights, impacting 40,000 passengers..this is unacceptable'' pic.twitter.com/KmAiY9wCrn

— Ryanair (@Ryanair) April 29, 2023

Mr O’Leary said Ryanair wanted to “apologise sincerely” to passengers whose flights were disrupted, adding where flights were cancelled the airline had emailed customers to notify them.

“It is unfair that flights from the UK to Spain or from Italy to Portugal are being cancelled simply because a bunch of French air traffic control units want to go on strike,” he said.

“We respect their right to strike, but if they want to strike, cancel the French flights, protect the overflights,” he said.