Ryanair urges EU governments to reform air traffic control services

International

"League of delays" for June highlights Europe's best and worst ATC systems / ATC-related delays could be avoided through better staffing and organisation.

Ryanair, Europe’s number one airline, has today (Wednesday, 2 July) called on EU governments to urgently reform their national air traffic control (ATC) services. The call follows the publication of Ryanair’s June edition of the “League of Delays”, which reveals that France, Spain, Germany, Portugal and the UK continue to rank among the worst-performing ATC providers in Europe. This is largely due to their transport ministers’ failure to ensure adequate staffing and efficient management.

The poor performance of these countries’ ATC systems is thrown into sharp relief when compared to the far better-run services in Slovakia, Denmark, Ireland, Belgium and the Netherlands – the five countries with the fewest ATC-related delays in Europe so far this year. If these states can organise and staff their ATC services effectively to minimise disruptions, why shouldn’t passengers expect the same from the heavily funded but poorly managed systems in France, Spain, Germany, Portugal and the UK?

Ryanair has long advocated for ATC reform to guarantee full staffing levels. However, delays caused by poor management continue to rise. The airline is encouraging all passengers to visit the website “Air Traffic Control Ruined Your Flight” and call on their transport ministers to manage their national ATC services efficiently and provide sufficient staffing to prevent avoidable delays this summer.

Michael O’Leary, Ryanair’s CEO, commented:

"Another month of ATC mismanagement and staffing shortfalls has gone by, yet neither the European Commission nor the national transport ministers responsible have acted to improve Europe’s worst-performing air traffic control services. France, Spain, Germany, Portugal and the UK continue to cause thousands of flight delays, impacting millions of Ryanair passengers.

This contrasts sharply with other EU countries like Slovakia, Denmark, Ireland, Belgium and the Netherlands, which offer significantly better on-time performance and have delivered the best ATC services in Europe from 1 January to 30 June this year.

The obvious question is: if those five countries can run their ATC services efficiently with proper staffing, why can’t France, Spain, Germany, Portugal and the UK? The answer is simple: they could—but as protected state monopolies, they are not held accountable and have little incentive to care about passengers or punctuality. If they did, they would recruit enough air traffic controllers and improve their operations.

This is deeply unfair to passengers and airlines, who pay high fees for these underperforming services. The transport ministers of these countries must be held accountable for failing to deliver efficient ATC systems. Ryanair calls on all passengers to visit 'Air Traffic Control Ruined Your Flight' and demand urgent improvements."