Irish airline Ryanair said on Monday that a strike by air traffic controllers in France against pension reform delayed more than a quarter of all its flights in Europe last weekend and led to the cancellation of 230 air routes.
“These repeated interruptions of the overflights of the EU are unacceptable,” denounced in a press release the low-cost airline, the first in Europe in number of passengers transported, which regularly targets air traffic control (ATC, for its acronym in English) French. .
“Over the past weekend, more than 25% of Ryanair’s 9,000 scheduled flights were delayed due to French ATC disruptions, and 230 flights (41,000 passengers) were canceled to meet capacity restrictions,” airline controllers said. air traffic, Ryanair said.
The geography means that many routes operated by the company, particularly between the British Isles and southern Europe, must pass through French airspace. However, the airline believes that French law provides more protection for flights to or from airports in France during strikes, to the detriment of those who only fly over the territory.
Petition
Ryanair launched a petition to its passengers last week, asking them to support their repeated appeals to the European authorities to protect overflights of French territory in case of social movements. This Monday afternoon, the petition reached 60,000 signatories. Air traffic will remain disrupted in France at least until Wednesday due to the air traffic controllers’ strike.
On Tuesday, the tenth day of interprofessional mobilization against the pension reform, as well as on Wednesday, the French Civil Aviation Authority (DGAC) asked airlines to give up 20% of flights to or from Paris-Orly, Marseille , Toulouse and Bordeaux. Beyond the airports, the work stoppages of air traffic controllers also affect the Air Route Navigation Centers (CRNA), which manage aircraft outside the takeoff and landing phases and transit through French airspace. Therefore, they have repercussions on all European traffic.
On Monday, delays at French airports were limited to a few minutes on average. On the other hand, the aircraft that use the areas managed by the CRNAs of Brest, Marseille and Reims suffered delays that could be “high”, that is, more than 45 minutes, according to the air traffic monitoring organization Eurocontrol.
Source: BFM TV
