By John Ensor • Published: 27 Apr 2023 • 10:40
Image of a Ryanair plane. Credit: Tom Buysse/Shutterstock.com
The budget-friendly airline, not to mention its passengers have suffered at the hands of French ATC industrial action, leading the Dublin-based company to mount a petition to keep the skies over France open for business.
In just this year alone French ATC has held 39 days of strikes leading to the cancellation of over 3,500 Ryanair flights mainly overflying France.
Overflights are when aircraft need to fly over a country’s airspace, even though it is not the take-off location or landing destination. This has led to thousands of cancelled flights for Ryanair and misery for air passengers. However, French ATC have kept a minimum service in operation which has meant French flights have been protected.
According to Conde Nast Traveller a spokesman for Ryanair commented, ‘When the French Government protects 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.’
In a statement on Ryanair’s website, they said, ‘It is unacceptable that France uses Min Service Legislation to protect French flights during these repeated ATC strikes, while overflights, none of which are operating to/from France, suffer all these cancellations. This is unfair. The EU must act now to protect overflights and the EU Single Market.’
‘Ryanair has repeatedly called on the EU Commission and Ursula von der Leyen to take action to protect EU passengers and overflights during repeated French ATC strikes. Ryanair calls on all passengers to sign our petition.’
So far the petition has 565,354 signatures.
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Originally from Doncaster, Yorkshire, John now lives in Galicia, Northern Spain with his wife Nina. He is passionate about news, music, cycling and animals.
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