Ryanair has launched a Europe-wide petition for the European Union to intervene in strikes by French air traffic controllers.
The carrier wants one million signatories to back its condemnation of "repeated inaction by the EU Commission under Ursula von der Leyen" in the wake of the strikes.
The petition was emailed to Ryanair passengers on March 20 and exhorted recipients to "call on EU Commission President von der Leyen to take action to protect flights from avoidable disruptions this summer".
According to the airline, the strikes have in 2023 delayed or caused the cancellation of flights for around a million passengers, with passengers flying over France to and from other countries worst affected. France has seen weeks of protests and strikes against the Macron government's push to lift the retirement age from 62 to 64.
Ryanair said that the European Commission should protect French overflights during ATC strikes as they do in Greece, Italy and Spain, allow Europe’s other ATCs to manage flights over France while French ATC are on strike and mandate that French ATC unions engage in binding arbitration before calling of strikes
“While we respect the right to strike, it is completely unacceptable that Europe’s passenger flights that overfly France are repeatedly delayed or cancelled by French ATC strikes," said the airline's Eddie Wilson.