Ryanair's Flight Cancellations Leave 30,000 Passengers Stranded Amid French Strike

The ongoing strike has greatly affected travel across Europe, disrupting holiday plans for over 30,000 passengers.

Ryanair, the low-cost airline, reported that a French air traffic control strike led to more than 170 canceled flights, impacting tens of thousands of travelers. This strike, caused by two unions advocating for better working conditions, has affected not only flights departing from and arriving in France but also those crossing French airspace, with significant repercussions for destinations such as the UK, Ireland, Spain, and Greece. French Transport Minister Philippe Tabarot criticized the strike as "unacceptable," while Ryanair's CEO Michael O'Leary accused air traffic controllers of unfairly disrupting holiday plans for European families. As a result of the strike, the French civil aviation authority has advised airlines to decrease their flight schedules, foreseeing further disruptions. The UNSA-ICNA union, which initiated the strike, highlighted staffing shortages and contentious management strategies, including a new clock-in system, as core issues. Airlines for Europe (A4E) condemned the strike, highlighting its potential to severely disrupt travel during peak holiday times, while EasyJet expressed disappointment over the situation. Despite these recent cancellations, Ryanair maintained that it still managed to operate over 109,000 flights in June, indicating that the disruptions affected less than 1% of its operations.