Ryanair has warned it could be forced to cancel up to 600 flights a day next week as French air traffic controllers prepare for a four-day strike.
The SNCTA, France’s largest air traffic control union, has called for industrial action from 7 to 10 October, a move that is expected to reduce capacity across western European airspace. The disruption will not only affect flights to and from France but also overflights on routes between the UK, Spain, Italy, and Greece.
Michael O’Leary, Ryanair’s chief executive, said as many as 100,000 passengers a day could be impacted and renewed calls for the EU to shield overflights from French strikes.
“We cannot have a situation in the EU where we have a single market yet we close that market every time the French go on strike,” O’Leary said. “If flights are to be cancelled, they should be flights arriving to and from France, not overflights.”
He urged European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen to act, suggesting Eurocontrol could manage overflights during strike action.
The latest warning comes after 30 Ryanair flights were cancelled on Thursday due to action by smaller unions, while more than 190 flights were heavily delayed during a strike two weeks earlier.
Other airlines, including easyJet and British Airways, have not yet confirmed the scale of disruption they expect.
The strikes add to broader pressures on European air traffic, already strained by staff shortages, technical issues, and the closure of Russian and Ukrainian airspace.
