Ryanair cancels hundreds of UK and Spanish flights due to French air traffic control strike

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The budget Irish airline has warned that more than half of the flights to and from Spain will experience delays on Thursday April 25

Ryanair cancels hundreds of UK and Spanish flights due to French air traffic control strike

Serious disruption lies ahead for Ryanair passengers on Thursday April 25 as the airline has been forced to cancel more than 300 flights due to new air traffic control strikes in France. The majority of the cancellations will impact routes that carry planes over French airspace, such as those to and from the UK and Spain.

Ironically, French trips won’t be affected as the law protects domestic flights but not overflights during national strikes.

There is still potential trouble for those passengers whose journeys do go ahead though, as the Association of Airlines (ALA) has warned that around 50% of flights which do take to the skies in Spain this Thursday can expect some kind of delay, even though 85% of them have neither their origin nor destination in France.

In light of this latest wave of industrial action, Ryanair has called on the EU to take urgent measures to protect these overflights against France’s strict policy.

Back in October, similar industrial action by French controllers resulted in days of chaos in Spain. The strike action particularly hit control centres in Madrid, Barcelona, Palma and Valencia and required many flights that usually travel through French airspace to replot their routes.

This time around, the ALA believes that once again, Spain will be the country to bear the brunt of the French work stoppage, which it predicts will have a “very negative impact on thousands of flights”.

In a press release earlier this week, the president of the ALA, Javier Gándara, stressed the need for the EU to “take a step forward” and force France to protect the overflights in French airspace, as is frequently done in the likes of Italy and Spain when there are similar work disputes.

In other news: Barcelona robber caught by off-duty British police officers

Image: Ryanair

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