Ryanair launched a scathing onslaught connected European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen connected Friday, September 12, informing of wide formation cancellations connected September 17 and 18 owed to a caller onslaught by French aerial postulation controllers.
The Irish hose said it had already been warned that it could person to cancel up to 700 overflights implicit France during the 48-hour strike, affecting much than 125,000 passengers.
Ryanair accuses the Commission President of having “done nothing” implicit the past 2 years to instrumentality proposals that would support flights that simply walk done French airspace without landing astatine French airports. The company, on with the European aviation manufacture (Airlines 4 Europe – A4E), has asked the Commission to let the European assemblage Eurocontrol to negociate overflights during nationalist strikes.
According to Ryanair, Ursula von der Leyen is wrongly claiming that Air Traffic Control (ATC) is simply a “National Competence”, portion overflights are a Single Market Competence and truthful taxable to the extortion of the EU Commission.
The hose states that erstwhile the Draghi Report was published successful September 2024, it highlighted the multi-billion dollar outgo of Air Traffic Control inefficiencies and formation delays, and that “despite promising urgent enactment connected the Draghi Report, Ursula von der Leyen has done thing successful the past 12 months to betterment the EU’s troubled Air Traffic Control system.”
As it points out, European airlines are agreed successful calling for 2 effectual reforms connected which nary enactment has been taken:
to necessitate nationalist aerial postulation power services to beryllium afloat staffed for the archetypal question of greeting flights and
for the European Commission to support overflights during nationalist aerial postulation controller strikes.
“This would not infringe connected the close of French aerial postulation controllers to strike, but would support flights that are simply flying implicit France connected 17 and 18 September,” the hose stressed.
Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary said successful a stern tone: “Over the past 5 years, President von der Leyen has proven useless successful promoting competitiveness oregon ratio successful Europe. Under her leadership, European consumers endure the highest biology costs (while excluding non-European airlines from their just stock of Environmental Taxes), the astir burdensome regularisation and the slightest businesslike aerial postulation power services successful the world.
So far, she has proven useless successful implementing aerial postulation power betterment and we telephone connected her again today: Protect overflights adjacent week oregon resign! If you are not prepared to support the Single Market, past spell backmost to Germany, to let idiosyncratic successful complaint to present ratio and competitiveness and support the Single Market for aerial travel.”
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