Ryanair calls for action to prevent chaotic summer season

Budget airline Ryanair has called for “immediate” EU action to prevent a summer of travel chaos after it revealed that more than 1,100 flights were cancelled last month due to air traffic control strikes, affecting more than 200,000 customers.

The Dublin-based carrier, headed by Michael O’leary, said the flight cancellations were caused largely by the strike action in France and air traffic control (ATC) staff shortages, although it added that disruption from widespread thunderstorms were also partly to blame. The flight cancellations compared with just 43 in May last year.

Chief marketing officer Kenny Jacobs said: “Regrettably over 200,000 Ryanair customers had their flights cancelled in May because of ATC strikes (mostly French), ATC staff shortages and thunderstorms.

“Ryanair calls for immediate EU Commission action to prevent more ATC strikes and staff shortages disrupting the travel plans of Europe’s consumers this summer.”

But despite the strike woes, Ryanair’s latest passenger traffic figures showed a 6 per cent increase in passengers last month to 12.5 million.

Its load factor – a measure of how well airlines fill their planes – improved to 96 per cent from 95 per cent a year earlier.

The latest strike disruption comes after Ryanair’s flight cancellation debacle last September, affecting more than 700,000 customers. 0 Michael O’leary, chief of the Dublin-based budget airline