The EU must act to “alleviate the impact” of repeated French ATC Union strikes on passengers, says Ryanair, which has cancelled 166 flights to and from France on Tuesday (28 June).

In a statement sent on Monday, Ryanair says flight cancellations during this latest strike will affect 30,000 of its passengers with an additional 100,000+ passengers suffering flight delays.

This will be the 52nd French strike since 2009, and the 12th over the past thirteen weeks.

Ryanair and other EU, including members of the Airlines for Europe (A4E) association have been calling on the European Commission to take measures which would limit the labour actions French ATC unions can take.

“It is time for action by the European Commission following this latest French ATC strike aimed at disrupting as many travel plans as possible. The frequency of these strikes, right in the middle of the holiday season only serves to underline how urgent action is required to help reduce the impact of these strikes,” said Ryanair’s CMO Kenny Jacobs.

The airlines propose that French ATC unions should be required to engage in binding arbitration to address labour issues, rather than resorting to strikes to resolve disputes. The airlines also ask that Europe’s other ATCs be allowed to operate flights over France when unions are on strike. Last, the airlines are asking that flights over France are protected while French unions are on strike.

Brexit

Jacobs also called on the European Union to consider the additional stress the airline industry now faces as a result of the success of the Leave vote in the British referendum on European Union membership this past Friday.

“After last week’s Brexit vote in the UK, the EU Commission must begin to deliver real benefits for consumers, and urgent action to ameliorate the effects of these repeated French ATC strikes and prevent them disrupting the travel plans of millions of EU citizens,” said Jacobs.

Ryanair has an open petition online at www.KeepEuropesSkiesOpen.com which it intends to present to the European Commission once it had gathered sufficient customer signatures, “to force it to finally take necessary action,” the airline states. As with previous strikes, the airline is asking customers affected by this Tuesday’s disruptions to sign this online petition.

Ryanair customers travelling on Tuesday are encouraged to check the status of their flight on the Ryanair.com website before leaving for the airport. Full flight information is available from Ryanair on the site:

http://www.cloud.scorebuddy.co.uk/ryanair-services/cancellations.php?date=2016-06-28