Ryanair condemns Greek ATC strikes

Ryanair regrets that it has been forced to cancel 4 flights on Saturday evening (8 Oct) and all flights (106 in total) to/from/within Greece on Sunday (9 Oct) as a result of this Greek ATC union strike, with further cancellations possible on Monday and delays likely.

Ryanair and other EU airlines have repeatedly called upon the Commission to introduce simple measures, which would alleviate the impact of these frequent ATC strikes on Europe’s citizens as follows:

1 – require ATC unions to engage in binding arbitration instead of strikes

2 – allow Europe’s other ATCs to operate overflights while unions strike

3 – protect overflights (under minimum service obligations) during ATC strikes

4 – allow airlines to recover their EU 261 expenses from striking ATC providers

Ryanair sincerely apologised to all customers disrupted by these unjustified strikes, all of whom have been contacted by email and SMS text message and advised of their options of a full refund, rebooking on to the next available flight, or rebooking onto an alternative route.

Ryanair advised all customers travelling to/from Greece this weekend to check the status of their flight on the Ryanair.com website before travelling to the airport.

Ryanair’s Robin Kiely said:

After a summer of discontent, Europe’s consumers are now having their autumn holiday and travel plans disrupted or cancelled by the selfish actions of ATC unions, who use strikes as a first weapon rather than a last resort. This 48-hour Greek ATC strike will impact hundreds of thousands of European consumers and throw their travel plans into chaos once more. It’s high time the European Commission took action to prevent these repeated ATC strikes from continuously disrupting the travel plans of millions of Europe’s citizens and their families.”  

Full flight information:

https://www.ryanair.com/gb/en/useful-info/help-centre/travel-updates/air-traffic-control-strike-greece