As usual French air traffic controllers are going on strike this summer and the industrial action will hit flights flying through French airspace, in particular those from the UK to Mallorca and other Spanish destinations. Today, the Unsa-Icna, the second largest air traffic controllers’ union in France, issued an official strike warning for 3 and 4 July, denouncing the ‘toxic’ and ‘authoritarian’ management of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGAC).
It also criticised the DGAC for failing to modernise the ‘essential’ tools used by air traffic controllers, despite ‘repeated promises that all necessary resources would be made available’. Unsa-Icna pointed out that the main cause of delays and poor performance attributable to French air navigation services is ‘well known’, namely ‘structural staff shortages, which are the result of a misguided recruitment policy and a lack of foresight, despite the warning signs that have been sent out for years’.
For all these reasons, the union has called for a change of course to increase staffing levels, carry out technical modernisation projects and put operational priorities back at the ‘centre’ of decision-making.
easyJet has already announced that cabin crew members across Spain will go on strike this week in a bid to try and ‘level the crews’ working and wage conditions in Spain with ones at other bases of the company in Europe’.
More than 650 team members, based in Alicante, Barcelona, Malaga and Palma could be involved in the industrial action, scheduled to take place from Wednesday June 25 to Friday June 27. And French air traffic controllers plan to strike on the back of that on July 3 and 4 . Ryanair’s boss has issued a warning to UK tourists flying to Europe this year. Michael O’Leary, the CEO of the airline, alerted holidaymakers to what could be a summer of chaos, with delays forecast for those flying to Europe.
The chief stated the “scandal” of under-staffing and the mismanagement of air traffic control networks have already caused issues for the airline and its passengers, pointing out air traffic control in five countries in particular. Last week, Ryanair , called on the European Commission to demand the ATC (air traffic control) providers in France, Spain, Germany, Greece and the UK, who are responsible for the majority of ATC delays, to properly staff their ATC centres to eliminate avoidable delays.
The underperformance of these mismanaged ATC’s is highlighted by the exemplary performance of other central ATC services in Denmark, Belgium, The Netherlands, Ireland and Slovakia, who have, during 2024, provided on-time ATC services to thousands of flights, without short-staffing or avoidable “capacity” delays.
Ryanair has long campaigned for the urgent reform of Europe’s mismanaged ATC services, but despite 20 years of investment in SESAR (Europe’s failed “Single Sky Project”) no progress has been made. The new Commission under Ursula von der Leyen has committed itself to delivering competitiveness and efficiency in Europe, yet it continues to allow the mismanagement and staff shortages in French, Spanish, German, Greek and UK ATC services.