HOLS HIT BY AIR TRAFFIC CHAOS
Ryanair warns over air traffic control strikes
HOLIDAYMAKERS could face travel chaos this summer over strike threats by air traffic controllers.
Ryanair called for urgent action by EU chiefs to stop the “alarming deterioration” in ATC services.
Airline boss Michael O’leary warned of a “full meltdown” over the summer.
He said: “Yet again this weekend, French ATC will strike on Saturday and Sunday leading to hundreds of flights being cancelled, disrupting the holiday plans of thousands.
“Many of these flights don’t even touch France yet they will be disruptive because French ATC requires airlines to cancel overflights while they protect French domestic routes. Europe’s airlines are also suffering thousands of ATC delays/cancellations because of staff shortages.
“These disruptions are unacceptable and we call on the UK and German governments and the EU Commission to take urgent and decisive action to ensure that ATC providers are fully staffed and that overflights are not affected when national strikes take place as they repeatedly do in France.”
Ryanair said 117,000 flights faced waits last month with 61% due to ATC staff shortages and walkouts.
The airline added it cancelled just over 1,000 trips because of the disruption compared to 43 in May last year. Mr O’leary said the situation is getting to the state where many flights during the busy holiday season could be cancelled.
He added: “Europe’s ATC providers are approaching the point of meltdown with hundreds of flights being cancelled daily simply because they don’t have enough staff to deal with them.
“The situation is particularly acute at weekends where British and German ATC providers are hiding behind adverse weather and euphemisms such as “capacity restrictions” when the truth is they are not rostering enough ATC staff to cater for the number of flights scheduled to operate.”