Cirium data show that 14,405 flights were cancelled in Europe in March, up 65% from the 8,713 flights cancelled in February. In a month where global cancellations increased to over 72,900, a 20% increase from the 60,780 in February, Europe witnessed by far the highest regional increase.
According to the Irish Times, Cirium CEO Jeremy Bowen blamed the region’s problems on “a number of last-minute air traffic control and airport strikes,” particularly the air traffic control (ATC) strikes in France, which have disrupted travel on more than 50 days in 2023 alone, an increase of ten times the amount of days in all of 2022. This year, German aviation has also seen its fair share of labor unrest, including significant transport network strikes at the end of March.
Approximately 660,000 passengers were impacted by Ryanair’s cancellation of over 3,700 flights as a result of the French ATC strikes, according to Ryanair, while easyJet CEO Johan Lundgren estimates that up to 10 million passengers have been impacted overall.
Due to the fact that many flights must cross over French territory in order to follow their ideal routes, the domestic problem has expanded to become a larger headache for European airspace. According to data from eurocontrol, the French airspace situation between March 1 and April 9 affected 15% of flights to/from Spain, while 6-8% of flights in Germany, Italy, and the UK were affected.
The Middle East and Africa, Asia-Pacific, Latin America, and Europe all saw an increase in cancellations in March, according to a research from Cirium, while North America defied the trend by seeing a 16% decrease.
A strike by French air traffic control has lately been scheduled for May 1, the state holiday honoring labor. Authorities have requested that around 33% of flights be canceled on May 1st due to the disruption expected from Sunday, April 30th, to the morning of Tuesday, May 2nd.
