04-07-2025
Ryanair cancels 400 flights due to French ATC strike
Ryanair has cancelled 400 flights affecting 70,000 passengers over the last two days due to a nationwide air traffic controller strike in France, the airline's CEO said today.
Michael O'Leary described the strike as "recreational", adding French unions are "struggling to find reasons to go out on strike".
As of 7am, 14 flights scheduled to fly in/out of Dublin Airport today have been cancelled by airlines.
This follows the cancellation of 20 flights yesterday.
Frencg civil aviation agency DGAC told airlines to cancel 40% of flights at the three main Paris airports today because of the strike, which the air traffic controllers say is over staff shortages and ageing equipment.
Up to half of flights at France's other airports, mostly in the south, were also affected, DGAC added.
French transport minister Philippe Tabarot called the strike unacceptable. "The idea is to disturb as many people as possible," he said in an interview with CNews.
Even with the cancellations, DGAC warned that passengers could be affected by delays and significant disruptions.
The Airlines for Europe (A4E) lobby group said last night that 1,500 flights had been cancelled over the two-day strike, affecting 300,000 passengers and causing cascading delays.
Passengers due to fly to or over mainland Europe today are advised to check directly with their airline for latest updates on the status of their flight.
Speaking on RTÉ's Today with Claire Byrne, Ryanair CEO Michael O'Leary said the "biggest issue" with the ATC strike is overflights.
He said that in most European countries, such as Spain and Italy and Greece, overflights are protected when there is an air traffic controller strike.
"In other words, the flights crossing over the country are protected and can operate," he said.
Mr O'Leary said Ryanair and other airlines across Europe "have been calling on Ursula Von der Leyen, the President EU Commission, for about five years now to take steps to protect overflights".
"They won't stand up to the French and therefore every June, July, thousands of people and their families have their flights disrupted by a tiny number of French air traffic controllers," he said.
"When the Brexit negotiations were going on Ursula Von der Leyen was telling everybody the single market is at the core of Europe," he said.
"But when the French closed the sky and protect their local French flights, she sits by idly doing nothing while they cancel all the overflights," she added.
French air traffic controlloers holding countries to ranson - Jacobs
The chief executive of Dublin and Cork Airports operator daa has said that French air traffic controllers are holding other countries to ransom, which they do annually, with their strikes.
Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland, Kenny Jacobs said that in addition to the flights that have been cancelled, there will also be significant delays due to the strike.
"This is the annual ransom by a very small group of French air traffic controllers. About 50 air traffic controllers in Paris have disrupted the plans of over half a million European travellers on the big exodus where everyone goes on their holidays and it's simply unacceptable," he stated.
"It happens every year. They only strike on Fridays and it's unacceptable. Europe needs to do something and it's very unfair to the Irish families flying from Dublin to Faro wondering why they're suffering a four-to-six-hour delay because they're not going to France, but they're flying over France," he said.
"The key thing that Europe needs to do is say to the French, flights over France cannot be disrupted if you're having a strike, that's your problem," he said.
Mr Jacobs said that Ryanair has over 1,000,000 signatories and the airline is calling for legislation to be passed at the EU.
"I think it's absolutely up to the EU to tackle the French government and say, look, we have a single Europe. We want a single Europe on many different fronts. Why can't we have a single European Sky," he said.
"Dublin-based air traffic controllers could run French airspace so Europe can fix this. They're the ones who need to tackle it, and it's about time that that happens," he said.
In relation to the number of visitors coming through Dublin airport, the daa CEO said traffic was flat in the first quarter of 2025 due to the passenger cap but in the second quarter there was a 4% increase.
"Europeans in June are up 6% and Americans coming here is up 4% and overall Dublin is for the month of June is up 5.5%, while Cork is up is 'stonking' 15%".
"We're very dependent on tourism as a small island economy and that creates a lot of jobs. We want to keep people coming to Ireland and we want to keep Irish people connecting with Europe and the rest of the world," he stated.
On the Dublin Airport passenger cap, Mr Jacobs said the airport have two applications in with Fingal County Council - one for a cap of 36 million and one for 40 million.
"I actually think the Irish Government will fix the situation and find a solution for the passenger cap. I think that will come in the autumn. I hope it comes in the autumn because this is a unique Irish problem," he said.
He said the passenger cap had caused uncertainty, which creates a problem for airlines.
"This week we just saw TUI pulling two aircraft out of Dublin, partly because of that uncertainty," he added.
"We want to create an environment where we can grow again. We want to get planning permission granted because the team at Dublin are doing a great job," Mr Jacobs said.
"This is going to be a very strong summer, but we need more space and we need to add more piers and stands that will allow us to continue to grow," he added.
