2023-05-31 11:50:00
As usual, Michael O’Leary, the boss of Ryanair provided the show this Wednesday morning before the European Commission. “I staged the quietest protest in European history, he explains. We are Irish, not French: we have no intention of burning buildings or leaving waste in front of the Berlaymont”. Dressed in a T-Shirt with the words “Keep it sky open” the CEO was accompanied by regarding ten people (”employees and students we hired to look younger”) to deliver a petition containing more than one million signatures to President Ursula von der Leyen.
His request ? That the European Commission put pressure on the French government to impose a minimum service in the event of a strike by the country’s air traffic controllers. The Irish company thus fears having to cancel “thousands” flights this summer”if the situation persists”.
A fundamental geographical situation
Ryanair has made its accounts: since the beginning of the year, there have been 57 days of strikes by air traffic controllers across Europe, “ten times more than in 2022”, the majority having taken place in France. However, given the geographical location of France, many flights over the country have to be canceled or are delayed: even a flight between Belgium and Spain is very likely not to take place in the event of a French strike. “What is completely unfair is that the French government has provided for a minimum service but only on national flights, peste Michael O’Leary. A flight between Lille and Marseille can therefore take place in the event of a French strike, but not a journey between Portugal and Denmark”.
According to the Irish boss, the French can also “easily take the train or the road” to get to their vacation spot. “But how does an Irishman do who has booked a trip to Italy and whose flight has been canceled because of the French? He doesn’t have time to find an alternative”.
Since the start of the year, Ryanair has had to cancel 1,200 flights, impacting 216,000 passengers, and delay nearly 18,000 flights.because of these strikes in France”. “We have to make big detours by bypassing French airspace, it is not ecologically and economically tenable”justifies the company.
Shrugs from the French government
”We have already challenged the French government but all we got as an answer were shrugssoupire Michael O’Leary. We also went to the European Court of Justice five years ago, but without result. We do not want a change in legislation at European level, it would take 25 years. But we want the Commission to put pressure on the French government so that it establishes a minimum service in the event of overflights of its territory as of this summer, as is already the case in Italy and Greece”.
According to Ryanair, legally, a petition with 1 million signatures obliges Ursula von der Leyen to act. “It is the duty of the Commission to protect freedom of movement in Europepoursuit M. O’Leary. It is not normal that a miniscule number of people can block the whole European sky. The last time, there were nine strikers among French air traffic controllers and the system collapsed for three days, they almost blocked all of Europe. Strikers were protesting once morest Macron’s pension reform, even though air traffic controllers are exempt”. The Irish boss does not rule out legal action once morest the Commission if nothing is done in the coming weeks.
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