40 flights cancelled and countless delayed as Europe 'taken hostage' by strike

Some 18 flights due to depart Dublin were cancelled in addition to 19 due to arrive, the majority of which were Ryanair flights to or from France, Italy and Spain, some Aer Lingus flights such as from Amsterdam and Geneva were also cancelled.

The majority of Tuesday’s flights faced some form of delay with almost 100 being delayed by at least 45 minutes, according to Flight Radar.

Just two flights at Cork airport were cancelled, those arriving to and from Carcassonne. However, eleven flights faced delays of at least 45 minutes.

The ATC strikes which began on Monday evening and are set to continue until Wednesday morning saw 400 Ryanair flights across Europe cancelled on Tuesday alone.

The strikes, which are in response to President Emmanuel Macron’s plans to increase the state pension age from 62 to 64, have sparked calls for reform of EU air traffic control as flights flying over France, not to or from the country, were cancelled.

'Farcical'

Tuesday marked the 59th day of ATC strikes so far in 2023, over eleven times more than in the entirety of 2022, according to Ryanair who submitted a petition of 1.1 million “fed up” customers to the EU Commission calling for action.

Fianna Fáil MEP Billy Kelleher said it is “farcical” that strike action by French ATC is causing the cancellation of flights that are not landing in or taking off from France.

“The French are entitled to strike if they choose to, but they cannot hold the rest of Europe hostage. The cost to airlines is huge in terms of compensation for delayed or cancelled flights.

“Ultimately, these costs have to be passed onto customers in terms of higher airfares and many longed-after family holidays have been ruined,” he said.

Mr Kelleher said a solution in the short-term, would be to allow other air traffic control bodies to manage flights flying over France until the strikes are concluded.

“Longer term, we need to move away from individual countries operating semi-independently, and begin the process of developing what is known as the 'Single European Sky'.

 The European Commission believes such an initiative would assist in de-fragmenting the European airspace, reducing delays, increasing safety standards and flight efficiency to reduce the aviation environmental footprint.

“The proposal has been stuck in legislative limbo for a number of years, but these French strikes remind us that doing nothing only harms our consumers,” he said.

Similarly, Ryanair outlined the need for France to use Minimum Service Laws to protect overflights during ATC strikes similarly to Greece, Italy and Spain, which protect overflights regardless of industrial action.

“These repeated ATC strikes have unfairly forced airlines to disproportionately cancel thousands of EU overflights from Germany, Spain, Italy, the UK and Ireland while France in particular, uses Minimum Service Laws to protect their domestic/short-haul flights while cancelling overflights,” they said.

Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary said the vast majority of Tuesday’s 400 cancelled Ryanair flights were overflights and not going to or from France.

“We respect the right of French ATC to strike, but if they go on strike it should be French domestic flights or local flights in France that get cancelled,” he said.

Mr O’Leary said it is “absolutely indefensible” that flights going from Ireland to Italy are being cancelled “simply because the French want to prioritise their domestic flights and cancel all the overflights.” 

“People flying across France are having their flights unnecessarily cancelled because the European Commission led by Ursula von der Leyen will not take action,” he said.