Ryanair issued an apology to its passengers on Wednesday after dozens of flights were delayed. The budget airline blamed it on problems with staff shortages across European air traffic control operations. It has been an ongoing issue, of which the airline has been critical.
Earlier this month, Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary called for the chief executive of UK-based air traffic control operator Nats, Martin Rolfe, to resign after problems at Gatwick. Prior to that, Mr O’Leary said the system across Europe needed reform. On Wednesday, Ryanair apologised for “the excessive flight delays caused by European ATC staff shortages”, which it said was affecting all European airlines.
It said ATC services “continue to underperform”, despite flight volumes being 5% below 2019 levels. Ryanair said 79 of 575 aircraft departures on Wednesday morning were delayed. It said the “repeated flight delays due to ATC mismanagement are unacceptable”. A spokesperson said: “We apologise to our passengers for these repeated ATC flight delays which are deeply regrettable but beyond Ryanair’s control. We encourage passengers to visit atcruinedourholiday.com and demand that the EU Commission take urgent action to improve Europe’s ATC system.”
European air traffic control has been affected by staff shortages and equipment issues, which has led to delays to flight schedules and cancellations, for months.