By Rory Gannon
Copyright dailystar
One of the biggest airlines in Europe is set to cancel hundreds of flights next week. The impact will be massive, with over 100,000 passengers likely being affected. Dozens of Ryanair flights could be wiped as industrial action in France could leave thousands out of pocket. However, it is not just flights taking off from France that will be hit, but also those travelling over French airspace. Bosses at the airline have said that as many as 600 flights could be culled because of the disruption. As a result, thousands of Brits could end up stranded for days as a result of the chaos caused by the strike action . The Sun reports that air traffic control (ATC) staff in France are set to walk out in a dispute over their pay and conditions. The industrial action is set to last from Tuesday (October 7) until Friday (October 10), meaning there will be four days of travel chaos across France. But it is not just French flights that will face disruption, as planes flying over French airspace will also be impacted. This means flights coming to the UK from the likes of Greece, Spain and Italy could all be hit hard. Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary confirmed to Sky News that passengers should be prepared for major disruption to their travel plans. “That’s about 100,000 passengers who will have their flights cancelled needlessly next Wednesday and Thursday,” he said of the decision by ATC staff to walk out. On top of this, Michael revealed the decision to strike will cost the airline as much as £20million, which will likely result in passengers losing out. Brits are likely to be impacted most due to its close proximity to France, meaning most planes going to Britain with either have to divert around France, or be cancelled. Speaking on how much the strike action will hit the airline, O’Leary fumed: “On any given day at the moment, we operate about 3,500 flights and about 900 of those flights cross over French airspace.” He added: “About two thirds of those, around 600 flights, are cancelled every day there’s an air traffic control strike.” Since launching Ryanair, Michael O’Leary has called for better protection of passengers from industrial action whilst flying over France, a nation renowned for consistently going on strike. “They have the right to strike and we accept that but they should be cancelling local French fights, not flights from the UK to Spain ,” O’Leary insisted. His frustrations with ATC walkouts have grown so much, he has even gone on to advise customers to submit complaints to a dedicated website: ATCRuinedOurHoliday.com. But despite their complaints, Ryanair will not be the only airline affected by French ATC worker’s industrial action. Both British Airways and EasyJet will likely be hit due to the strikes, although a spokesperson for EasyJet said they would be “monitoring the situation”. In a statement, the union representing ATC workers said the action had to be taken as they believed the way ATC was being run was “characterised by mistrust, punitive practices, and brutal managerial methods”. Initially the walkout by French workers was due to take place last month, but was eventually postponed after the government in Paris collapsed. For the latest breaking news and stories from across the globe from the Daily Star, sign up for our newsletters .
