Ryanair today called on EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to resign if she fails to reform what Ryanair considers a failed European air traffic control service. The reason for this is a renewed strike by French air traffic controllers on Thursday, July 3, and Friday, July 4, 2025, which is causing massive disruption to European air traffic. Ryanair accuses von der Leyen of failing to take any action to reform the service during her six years in office, which disrupts the travel plans of thousands of EU citizens every year.
Ryanair criticizes the current strike by French air traffic controllers, claiming it is supposedly protesting "staff shortages," but paradoxically only exacerbating this problem. As in the past, the French government's minimum operating rule primarily protects domestic flights, while canceling a disproportionately high number of overflights. This affects tens of thousands of passengers who are not directly bound for France, but are merely crossing French airspace on their way to other European destinations. The airline emphasizes that the European Commission has a duty to protect the internal air transport market and ensure that the airspace over France remains open to avoid unnecessary strike consequences for transit traffic.
Michael O'Leary, CEO of Ryanair, spoke sharply about the situation. He emphasized that over 400 Ryanair flights and more than 70.000 passengers would be affected by the strikes, even though 350 of these flights were purely overflights that could be protected by the EU Commission. O'Leary criticized von der Leyen for publicly acknowledging the importance of "competitiveness," as called for in the so-called Draghi Report, but for ducking into the water when strikes occur. He compared the situation to the inconceivable fact that Europe's waterways, roads, or rail connections would be regularly paralyzed by strikes, while the same thing would be allowed to happen in the airspace.
Ryanair has long called for two core reforms: first, ensuring full staffing of air traffic control services for the first morning departures, and second, protecting overflights during national strikes in air traffic control services. O'Leary concludes that the aviation industry has had enough of the EU Commission President's failure to deliver air traffic control reform. His demand is clear: If Ursula von der Leyen is unwilling to create the necessary competitiveness and secure overflights, she should resign and make way for someone who will deliver this long-overdue reform.