Calls on EU Commission & Govts to properly staff their ATCs to eliminate avoidable, polluting ATC delays

Ryanair Europe’s No 1 airline, today (Mon, 16 June) called on the European Commission to demand the ATC providers in France, Spain, Germany, Greece and the UK, who are responsible for the majority of ATC delays, to properly staff their ATC centres to eliminate avoidable delays. The underperformance of these mismanaged ATC’s is highlighted by the exemplary performance of other central ATC services in Denmark, Belgium, The Netherlands, Ireland and Slovakia, who have, during 2024, provided on-time ATC services to thousands of flights, without short-staffing or avoidable “capacity” delays. Ryanair has long campaigned for the urgent reform of Europe’s mismanaged ATC services, but despite 20 years of investment in SESAR (Europe’s failed “Single Sky Project”) no progress has been made. The new Commission under Ursula von der Leyen has committed itself to delivering competitiveness and efficiency in Europe, yet it continues to allow the mismanagement and staff shortages in French, Spanish, German, Greek and UK ATC services.

Ryanair’s Michael O’Leary said:

“If the Danes, the Belgians, the Dutch, the Irish and the Slovakians can properly staff their ATC services and eliminate “ATC capacity” delays, then why can’t we expect a similar service from the very well-funded (by airlines), but hopelessly mismanaged French, Spanish, German, Greek and UK ATC providers. The difference is that these are protected State Monopolies, who don’t care about customer service, they don’t care about passengers, and they don’t care about their airline customers either. Every year they are short-staffed and they are responsible for over 90% of Europe’s flight delays, which adds an extra 10% to aviation emissions in Europe.

This scandal of short-staffing and mismanagement among the French, German, Spanish, Greek and UK ATCs can no longer be tolerated. It is time the European Commission intervened and demanded an efficient, competitive ATC service from all the Nation States of Europe. Ryanair, our customers, and our passengers are fed up with these avoidable ATC delays, which are imposed on us every Summer by the French, the Germans, the Spanish, the Greeks and the British. All that is necessary to properly manage their ATC service is to recruit and train sufficient Air Traffic Controllers, just as the Irish, the Danes, the Dutch, the Belgians and the Slovakians have already shown.

It is time for this European mismanagement and incompetence to end, or for ATC services of France, Germany, Spain, Greece, and the UK to be opened up to the competition. Europe must allow competition to deliver, where Government owned ATC Monopolies have clearly failed. When the Belgians, Dutch, Danes, Irish and Slovakians have delivered an efficient ATC service, then why can’t/won’t the French, Germans, Spanish, Greek and the UK ATC providers do likewise.”