Ryanair cancel up to 300 flights over French airtraffic controller strikes

Flights across Europe are set to be cancelled this Thursday as airtraffic controller workers in France go on strike.

The French DGAC civil aviation authority has asked airlines to cancel 75% of flights at Paris Orly airport, 55% of flights at Paris Charles-De-Gaulle and 65% of flights at Marseille for Thursday, April 25.

Strikes by French airtraffic controllers also impact any flights travelling through the country's airspace, for destination such as Italy, Spain and more.

Ryanair have announced that they will likely have to cancel up to 300 flights from Ireland and the UK this Thursday, and have renewed calls for the European Union to better protect overflights through French airspace.

Up to 36 flights to and from Dublin Airport have been cancelled for Thursday.

"French air traffic controllers are free to go on strike, that's their right, but we should be cancelling French flights, not flights leaving Ireland, going to Italy, or flights from Germany to Spain or Scandinavia to Portugal," Ryanair chief executive Michael O'Leary said in a statement.

“Legal mechanisms exist across Europe, in Spain in Italy in Greece for protecting over flights during national ATC strikes,”he continued, adding that French strikes should only impact flights to and from France.

“We continue to ask why France and the European Commission won’t protect overflights during national ATC strikes,” he added.

Aer Lingus have also warned of delays and cancellations to its flights this Thursday, and has advised passengers to check their flight status before departing for the airport.

"We continue to monitor the situation and will update customers via our website or SMS messaging should the situation impact our flight schedule," the airline said in a statement.

According to industry group Airlines for Europe (A4E), 16,000 flights were cancelled and 85,000 delayed last year due to air traffic control strikes in Europe