RYANAIR HAS CALLED for urgent reform of air traffic services from the EU, as it says it was forced to cancel over 400 flights this past week.

French air traffic controllers went on strike as summer holidays kicked off this week.

The two unions behind the industrial action called for better working conditions and to protest against “chronic understaffing”.

France’s DGAC aviation authority said 933 flights departing from or arriving at French airports were cancelled on Thursday, with around 1,000 flights cancelled on Friday. The strikes have continued this weekend.

Of these, Ryanair said its 400 cancelled flights disrupted the travel plans of over 70,000 passengers.

In the Ryanair statement released this morning, the Irish budget airline called on von der Leyen to take urgent action to reform EU ATC services by ensuring that ATC services are fully staffed for the first wave of daily departures, and by protecting overflights during national strikes.

It argued that these two reforms would “eliminate 90%” of all air traffic delays and “protect EU passengers from these repeated and avoidable ATC disruptions due to yet another recreational French ATC strike”.

Ryanair said it was renewing its call for European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen “to quit if she will not take action to urgently reform” EU air traffic control services.

It added that a “tiny handful” of French air traffic controllers had caused “mass delays across Europe” by engaging in two more days of strikes this weekend.

UNSA-ICNA, the second biggest labour group in the sector, launched the action to protest against “chronic understaffing”, the planned introduction of a clock-in system, outdated equipment and “toxic management practices that are incompatible with the requirements of calm and safety”.

It was joined by the third largest union, USAC-CGT but the main union, SNCTA, has not joined the action.

“It is completely unacceptable that two or three French Air Traffic Controllers can simply decide to extend these recreational French ATC strikes without any notice and ruin the travel plans of thousands of EU passengers and their families over one of the busiest travel weekends of the year,” a spokesperson for Ryanair said.

“Meanwhile EU President Ursula von der Leyen has failed to take any action to reform Europe’s ATC service,” the spokesperson said, adding that she had “failed” for the last 6 years.

“As a result, EU passengers are now being held to ransom once again by a handful of French Air Traffic Controllers.”