Ryanair apologises to passengers as airline says it’s ‘beyond our control’

Ryanair issued a warning to passengers flying to certain airports

A Ryanair flight
Ryanair is the most popular airline for people travelling from the UK(Image: Nicholas.T.Ansell/PA Wire)

Ryanair has apologised to its customers for “excessive” flight delays. Today, Tuesday, September 24, the company said all European airlines continue to be affected by ATC (air traffic control) staff shortages.

The airline said 11% – 64 of 575 aircraft – of its flights leaving the UK today were delayed due to ongoing issues. Ryanair said this was down to mismanagement and it was “unacceptable”.


Ryanair added: “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.”

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The European ATC system faces multiple challenges at the moment, including a faster-than-predicted recovery of traffic after the pandemic, high seasonal demand, and restricted air space, according to ATC Network. It added: “Fatigue and system limits are being stretched after years of underinvestment.


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“As predicted the shortage of air traffic control officers (ACTOs) and other staff cannot be addressed quickly enough to meet the continuous and growing demand. As a reminder, it takes an average of three years to train an ATCO, while the number of applications remains insufficient (lately).”

It comes off the back of Ryanair also having to cancel and reschedule a number of flights heading for Italy over the last day. The company said this was because of a ground handling strike affecting Venice Marco Polo, Olbia, Milan Malpensa and Bologna airports.

It added: “We have been forced to cancel a small number of flights to/from these airports and make schedule changes to a small number of others. Passengers affected by these cancellations/schedule changes have been notified of their options via email.


“Additionally, we are monitoring potential delays for flights to/from the affected airports on Tues 24 Sept as a result of the strike. Passengers affected by delays will be notified via the Ryanair app. We sincerely apologise for any inconvenience caused by this strike, which is outside of our control.”

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