The weather, the strikes, the technical incidents … Traveling by plane during the summer holidays that just finished was complicated for flights from France. According to the combination*figures*, on average, between 1.35 and 1.40% (depending on the type of low cost or premium company), flights were canceled during the period and 36% were late.
Two countries are unfavorably out of the game: Greece and the United Kingdom. 52% of premium companies have been late for the first and 46% for the second. Low side cost companies, the averages are 29% for Greece and 54% for the United Kingdom. The latter also presents the highest cancellation rates in the classification: 2.5% of low -cost flights and 3.2% of premium flights.
One in two flights to the United Kingdom was late
“For holidays, the riots have not saved a company that serves the British islands. Several events, such as a technical problem, which leads to chaos at Gatwick airport or Floris’s storm (130 canceled flights) made the United Kingdom the most subject to cancellations this summer,” said the specialist.
The study also analyzes the flights from foreign countries to France (or flying over France). Once again, the summer was complicated in particular due to the strike of the air controllers that paralyzed the French sky on July 3 and 4 and took civil aviation to cancel more than 1,100 flights. “Every day, more than a third of European flights (33%) take off, land or fly over France. Therefore, block the French airspace has affected more than one million European passengers and multiplied delays in neighboring countries (by 2.7 in Morocco, by 2 in Spain). In total, it is more than 354,000 minutes lost in two days” (depending on reading.
Ryanair angry
Last July, Ryanair turned to the fact that France is the European country that causes the most delays in his company. “More than 36,000 Ryanair flights and more than 6 million passengers have undergone delays between January 1 and July 22, 2025 due to the poor management of the French air traffic control service, the lack of recreational personnel and strikes,” wrote the Irish company Ryanair in a statement.
Remember that the SNTTA, the majority union with French air controllers, announced a new strike on Thursday, September 18.
*Figures based on departures from France from June 29 to August 18 based on companies that made at least 20 flights during the period. A plane is considered late when they arrive at least 15 minutes after the normal time of arrival at the destination.
Source: BFM TV
