A Ryanair petition with more than 1.1 million signatures calling for Brussels to ‘keep EU skies open’ during repeated air traffic control strikes was delivered today (Wednesday).
The Irish no-frills giant has been lobbying for flights over countries affected by striking controllers to be protected from disruption for much of the year.
The airline calculates that there have been 57 days of ATC strikes in the first five months of 2023 – ten times more than in the same period last year.
Ryanair argues that the walkouts have forced airlines to disproportionately cancel thousands of overflights from Germany, Spain, Italy, the UK and Ireland while France in particular, uses minimum service laws to protect its domestic and short-haul services.
Chief executive Michael O’Leary handed the petition to EU Commission president Ursula von der Leyen’s office.
He said: “Today, just 10 weeks since we launched our ‘Protect Overflights: Keep EU Skies Open’ petition, we delivered over 1.1 million signatures from fed-up EU citizens calling on the EU Commission under Ursula von der Leyen to protect overflights during repeated ATC strikes.
“It is unacceptable that ATC strikes can result in the cancellation of thousands of EU passengers’ flights, while France and other EU member states use minimum service laws to protect their domestic flights.
“Europe’s passengers are sick and tired of suffering unnecessary overflight cancellations during ATC strikes.
“The EU Commission must now act upon the petition of more than 1.1 million EU citizens and insist that all states protect overflights during national ATC strikes as is already done in Greece, Italy and Spain.”