Irish low cost airline Ryanair reported delays in 15 per cent of its flights on Monday morning due to "staff shortages" among air traffic controllers in Europe.
France’s 4,000 air traffic controllers have been engaged in a series of strikes for several months in a protest against staff cuts and a lack of up-to-date technology, which has been blamed on a “lack of investment”.
In a statement on Monday, Ryanair said German, French, Italian, Greek and UK air traffic control staff shortages caused delays to 68 (15 per cent) of its 441 first wave of flight departures.
“We sincerely regret these unjustified delays and are doing our utmost to limit their impact on flights throughout the rest of today,” it said. “Customers on impacted flights have been notified by SMS text and email.”
In a separate statement, Ryanair said the staff shortages among air traffic controllers caused delays to more than 1,000 (44 per cent) of its 2,327 flights on Sunday.
The airline has previously called for action from the European Commission to prevent more air traffic controller strikes and staff shortages disrupting people’s travel plans over the coming months.
