Labor Action Is 40th By Controllers Since 2009

Ryanair has called on the French Government and European Commission to take immediate action to prevent thousands of European consumers from having their travel plans disrupted or holidays cancelled by tiny groups of Air Traffic Control (ATC) unions going on Tuesday night.

French ATC unions have announced another closure from 1900 hrs (local) tonight until 0600 hrs (local) on Wednesday 27th January – the 40th ATC strike in France since 2009 – which will again result in thousands of flights being cancelled and hundreds of thousands of consumers having their flights cancelled and/or delayed.

In a news release, Ryanair said it has repeatedly called on the European Commission and European Parliament to take action to prevent these ATC strikes causing mayhem for Europe’s consumers. Ryanair has launched Keep Europe’s Skies Open an online petition offering European consumers the opportunity to join its call to protect Europe from repeated blackmail and disruption by ATC unions, by either removing the right to strike from Europe’s ATC unions, in the same way that Europe’s various police and military forces are not allowed to strike. In the USA, ATC unions are prohibited by law from striking. European ATC workers can still join unions, organise and advance their concerns through mediation or binding arbitration, which will not involve strikes or closing Europe’s skies, or allowing other European ATCs to manage flights over French airspace during ATC strikes, which would minimise cancellations and disruptions for Europe’s consumers who need to cross over French and Spanish airspace.

When this EU wide petition obtains 1m signatures, Ryanair intends to present it in Brussels and urge the EU Commission and the EU Parliament to finally take action.

“It's disgraceful that Europe’s consumers repeatedly have their holiday and travel plans disrupted or cancelled by the selfish actions of ATC unions, who use strikes as a first weapon rather than a last resort," said Ryanair spokesman Kenny Jacobs. "French ATC unions plan to strike from tonight until Wednesday morning – their 40th strike since 2009 – which will impact hundreds of thousands of European consumers and throw their travel plans into chaos.

"We have launched this website where consumers can support our online petition calling on the European Commission and European Parliament to either remove the ATC unions’ right to strike, or allow other European ATCs to operate French or Spanish airspace during these repeated strikes.

"It’s high time the French Government, European Commission and European Parliament took action to prevent Europe’s families and ordinary air travellers having their hard earned holidays or travel plans regularly disrupted by these ATC unions closing the skies over Europe. If the EU won’t listen to the airlines, perhaps they’ll listen to Europe’s citizens.”

(Source: Ryanair news release. Image from file)

FMI: www.keepeuropesskiesopen.com