Ryanair Cancelled 650 April Flights Due to French ATC Strikes

Ryanair was forced to ground 650 flights affecting 118,000 passengers due to industrial action affecting services using French airspace last month.

The French air traffic control strikes affected over-flights, but the Irish no-frills airline was still able to run nearly 90,000 flights in April. The airline has therefore asked for support for a petition to the European Commission to defend over-flights.

As part of broader demonstrations against pension reforms, air traffic controllers in France staged a series of walkouts that resulted in the cancellation of more than 627,000 passenger flights over the course of three months, according to Ryanair.

Due to Easter coming early in the month, Ryanair and its low-cost competitor Wizz Air both reported an increase in April travel.

Passenger carryings rose by 13% year-on-year to reach 16 million with an improved load factor of 94% although last April’s numbers were affected by the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

The April total gave Ryanair a rolling 12 month total of 170.3 million passengers, up 55% on a year earlier.