Ryanair CEO warns '100,000 passengers' could face cancelled flights 'next week'
Michael O'Leary said the two-day industrial action would cost Ryanair about £20 million and urged the government to act
Ryanair's chief executive has delivered a stark warning that 100,000 passengers could face flight disruptions next week due to an impending air traffic control union strike in France.
Michael O'Leary told the Sky Money blog that the industrial action would cost Ryanair approximately £20m.
Despite the company's capacity to absorb the expense, he stressed that it would ultimately be the customers who suffer the consequences and encouraged them to voice their complaints.
SNCTA members are scheduled to strike from Tuesday 7 October until the morning of Friday 10 October over a dispute regarding pay and working conditions.
Whilst the strike will inevitably impact flights bound for France, it will also affect those using French airspace to reach their final destination - these are known as overflights.
This encompasses flights to and from multiple destinations including Spain, Italy and Greece.
O'Leary called for overflights to be protected from strike action, contending that disrupting them represents an abuse of the free single market.
During the first two days of the strikes, he revealed that Ryanair expects to be asked to cancel approximately 600 flights - with nearly all of them being overflights.
"That's about 100,000 passengers who will have their flights cancelled needlessly next Wednesday and Thursday," he declared. "On any given day at the moment, we operate about 3,500 flights and about 900 of those flights cross over French airspace and about two thirds of those, around 600 flights, are cancelled every day there's an air traffic control strike."
The Ryanair chief has slammed French air traffic control strikes for wreaking havoc on flights throughout Europe, despite Britain having no direct involvement.
Whilst he recognised French workers' entitlement to strike action, he proposed that Eurocontrol, a pan-European air traffic management body, could intervene to oversee the airspace and maintain flight operations.
"It wouldn't stop the French striking, they have the right to strike and we accept that but they should be cancelling local French fights, not flights from the UK to Spain or from Italy to Ireland. This is a fundamental breach of the single market," he stated.
He called on the government to "put pressure" on the EU Commission and the French government to protect overflights during strike action.
"We bloody well demand that our overflights are protected. If British citizens today going to Italy, or we have Spanish visitors wanting to come to London, they should not have their flights disrupted or cancelled," he declared.
He accused: "They [the government] don't care about the travelling public and they won't get off their arses and demand that their overflights be protected."
A spokesperson for the Department of Transport stated: "Airspace is sovereign, and it is for each state to decide how best to manage their own.
"We know strikes can cause disruption for passengers and airlines and airports have robust resilience plans in place to minimise their impact. ".
New figures reveal that flight delays for six major UK airlines are worse now than before the coronavirus pandemic.
Consumer group Which?
analysed data and found that British Airways, easyJet, Jet2, Ryanair, Tui and Wizz Air were less punctual in the 12 months leading up to the end of April than they were in 2019, prior to the onset of the virus crisis.
Tui was identified as having the poorest performance among the airlines included in the research, which utilised Civil Aviation Authority data.
Only 59.2% of Tui's UK departures took off within 15 minutes of the scheduled time in 2024/25, a decrease from 67.2% in 2019.
Airlines have attributed much of the disruption to their flights to air traffic control (ATC) staff shortages and industrial action.
Eurocontrol, the European air traffic management body, has reported that the number of ATC officers in some parts of the network is 10-20% below what is needed to handle demand.
However, UK ATC provider Nats maintains that it is fully staffed.
Airlines are not obligated to compensate for delays that are beyond their control – such as ATC issues – and in some cases, it can be challenging for passengers to determine the true cause of disruption.
Here are the percentages of UK departures within 15 minutes of the scheduled time for six airlines in 2024/25 and 2019:.
– British Airways: 68.7% in 2024/25, down from 71.5% in 2019.
– Jet2: 68.0% in 2024/25, a decrease from 81.8% in 2019.
– EasyJet: 67.8% in 2024/25, slightly lower than 70.6% in 2019.
– Ryanair: 66.5% in 2024/25, down from 77.8% in 2019.
– Wizz Air: 66.0% in 2024/25, almost the same as 66.8% in 2019.
– Tui: 59.2% in 2024/25, a significant drop from 67.2% in 2019.