Ryanair launches petition calling on Ursula von der Leyen to protect passenger flights and keep EU skies open during French ATC strikes

Following repeated inaction by the EU Commission under Ursula von der Leyen, who have failed to take action to protect EU passenger flights during French Air Traffic Control (ATC) strikes, Ryanair is now calling on EU passengers to sign its ‘PROTECT PASSENGERS – KEEP EU SKIES OPEN’ petition, and join its call on the EU Commission to protect passengers by protecting overflights during French ATC strikes.

So far in 2023, French ATC strikes have delayed/cancelled the flights of over one million airline passengers, while the EU Commission has failed to protect these passengers’ flights. Even though it’s French ATC that are striking, most disrupted passengers are not flying to/from France but overfly French airspace en route to their destination (e.g., UK – Spain, Italy, Greece). While French law unfairly protects domestic flights, which means French flights are protected but non-French flights get cancelled. This is unfair.

As there is currently no EU regulation to protect flights over French airspace during French ATC strikes, Ryanair and its 168 million passengers demand that the EU Commission take the following measures:

1. Protect French overflights during ATC strikes (using minimum services laws) as they do in Greece, Italy and Spain
2. Allow Europe’s other ATCs to manage flights over France while French ATC are on strike
3. Mandate that French ATC unions engage in binding arbitration before calling strikes

Ryanair also confirmed today that it will submit its ‘PROTECT PASSENGERS – KEEP EU SKIES OPEN’ petition to the EU Commission when it reaches 1 million signatures to demand that they take action to protect European passengers and their families by keeping EU skies open during French ATC strikes.

At a press conference in Brussels today, Ryanair’s Eddie Wilson said:

“While we respect the right to strike, it is completely unacceptable that Europe’s passenger flights that overfly France are repeatedly delayed or cancelled by French ATC strikes. So far in 2023, more than 1,000,000 EU passengers have faced unnecessary delays/cancellations as a result of 14 separate French ATC strikes, with zero action taken by Ursula von der Leyen’s Commission to protect them. It’s just not fair that flights to and from France are protected by minimum service laws during ATC strikes, but overflights are unfairly cancelled because the EU Commission has failed to defend the single market for flights and the freedom of movement of EU citizens.

Despite multiple unanswered calls on the EU Commission to protect passenger flights by keeping the EU skies open during French ATC strikes, Ryanair has launched an EU wide petition to ‘PROTECT PASSENGERS – KEEP EU SKIES OPEN, where passengers are asked to support our call on the EU Commission to take action to protect Europeans and their families and their travel plans during French ATC strikes, which have become an almost weekly occurrence.

After all, if the EU won’t listen to its airlines, perhaps they’ll listen to millions of Europe’s passengers instead.”