Strike in France: Ryanair launches a petition with its passengers to “keep the skies of the EU open”

It counts one million travelers penalized since the start of the strike. The airline company Ryanair launched a petition on Monday with its passengers, asking them to support its appeals to the European authorities to protect overflights of French territory, affected by strikes by air traffic controllers against pension reform.

The Irish company is calling on its customers “to sign its petition” entitled “protect passengers – keep the skies of the EU open”. She also calls “to join her call to the European Commission”, according to a press release, which accuses the institution led by Ursula von der Leyen “of inaction”.

The low-cost airline, Europe’s largest in terms of the number of passengers carried, says the strike action by French air traffic controllers has delayed or canceled the flights of more than a million passengers since the start of the year. “Most of the disrupted passengers do not fly to/from France but fly over French airspace en route to their destination,” says the company, which believes that French law provides more protection for flights from or to airports in France. ‘Hexagon.

20% of flights canceled at Orly on Tuesday and Wednesday

Air authorities have been asking carriers to reduce traffic in France almost daily for several weeks due to the strike action by air traffic controllers against the pension reform project. The General Directorate of Civil Aviation (DGAC) thus ordered airlines on Monday to remove Tuesday and Wednesday 20% of their flights to Paris-Orly and Marseille-Provence (south-east), two particularly affected airports.

Ryanair says it wants to submit its petition, launched on the Internet, to the European Commission when it has been signed by 1 million people. Around 12:30 p.m. Monday, it approached 1,000 signatories. The company regularly targets French air traffic control (ATC, by its acronym in English).

Geography means that many Ryanair routes between the British Isles and Southern Europe must pass through French airspace. In January, Ryanair had already suggested to the European Commission to have recourse to the minimum service, to impose on the unions an arbitration phase before the strike or even “to authorize the other European ATCs to manage the flights above France” during social movements.