Ryanair chief executive Michael O’Leary has criticised the European Commission’s response to French air traffic controllers’ strike this week, which has seen the airline cancel more than “400 flights over the last two days”.
In a statement Mr O’Leary called on the European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen to resign unless she was willing to expedite reform of the EU’s ATC system.
He said that if she “isn’t willing to deliver competitiveness, isn’t willing to protect the single market, isn’t willing to protect overflights during National ATC strikes, then she should quit and let somebody more effective deliver the urgent ATC reform and the competitiveness, which Europe’s economy and our airlines’ passengers so badly need. The Airline Industry is fed up with Ursula von der Leyen’s failure to deliver ATC reform. If she won’t reform – then she should go!”
And speaking on RTÉ radio on Friday he said 60,000 Ryanair passengers “would not have their flights cancelled today if [commission president] Ursula von der Leyen actually took some action to protect the single market”.
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He accused her of not intervening to allow foreign flights pass over French airspace amid the strikes and said he had been petitioning the commission for five years to do so.
The strike by French air traffic controllers entered its second day on Friday, extending delays and cancellations at the start of Europe’s peak travel season.
According to Mr O’Leary, a situation in which French domestic flights were being prioritised over external ones “is a breach of the single market in Europe”.
“The European Commission will do nothing about this,” he said.
“There’s no reason for those flights to be cancelled, except France protects its local French flights and cancels the overflights” from other countries.
French air traffic controllers “really have very little to complain about. They’re not looking for more pay, they’re not looking for better conditions,” he said, describing it as “another recreational strike by French ATC unions”.
The unions have cited issues around short-staffing and ageing equipment as reasons for industrial action.
Speaking to Claire Byrne on RTÉ Radio 1 on Friday, he likened the commission’s response to the Irish Government’s approach on issues surrounding Dublin Airport’s passenger cap.
“They basically sit on their hands and do nothing.”
Separately, Mr O’Leary denied being asked to run for the presidency , which he described as “the most useless, valueless, wasteful job”.
However, he said he would be happy to endorse Fine Gael’s Mairead McGuinness, who he said had been a “terrific success” in European politics.
