European airlines are calling on the European Commission to step up to stop escalating industrial action from derailing summer travel for millions of passengers.
Already this year, a wave of strikes has impacted air travel in Europe resulting in over 6,000 flight cancellations disrupting the plans of over 10 million passengers. The 34 days of strikes in 2023 potentially impacted 237,000 flights. On a typical strike day, approximately 64,000 passengers were unable to fly as they intended as a result of cancellations; daily cancellations increased by 37%. When compared to a normal day, on strike days in France, there were on average 485 additional cancellations, of which 25% were overflights.
While we respect the right to strike, the ripple effect of disruptions impacting flights between unrelated Member States is untenable.
Laurent Donceel, acting Managing Director A4E
As the summer season ramps up, the potential for millions more passengers to have their travel plans ruined by strikes is high. Airlines for Europe (A4E), Europe’s largest airline associations, is calling on the Commission to support Member States to ensure European passengers can continue to fly freely this summer. This, A4E says, can be achieved through:
- Mandatory arbitration before ATC unions can threaten strike action
- A 21-day advance notification of strike action
- Providing a 72h advance individual notification of participation in industrial action
- Protection of overflights, while ensuring this is not at the expense of departures and arrivals in the country where the strike originates.
- Right of redress with air navigation service providers for the impact of disruption.
“We present a simple action plan to the European Commission to minimise passenger disruption this summer. It’s high time the Commission took decisive action to ensure smoother skies for the months ahead”, A4E acting Managing Director Laurent Donceel said.
The lack of European response has prompted A4E member Ryanair to launch a petition calling on the European Commission to take action to protect EU passengers. The freedom of movement, a cornerstone of the EU, cannot be compromised by persistent disruptions, the airline stresses. The petition is only 35,000 signatures short from reaching its goal of 1 million, which will oblige the Commission to respond within 6 months, without any obligation however of proposing new regulation. After all, if the EU won’t listen to its airlines, perhaps they’ll listen to millions of Europe’s passengers instead”, Ryanair’s Eddie Wilson said when launching the petition.
