Lifestyle Trend: Ryanair CEO warns of summer travel chaos amid flight cancellations You Should Know

Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary has warned Brits that it could be another ‘messy’ summer for flight cancellations

Brits planning holidays abroad this summer may face travel disruption with Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary warning of flight cancellations and delays due to strikes and staffing shortages. In an interview with The Independent, O’Leary described the upcoming summer schedule as potentially a “mess”.

There is expected to be several air traffic control (ATC) strikes across Europe in the upcoming months. He explained: “The French will start striking around May or June and then air traffic controllers will start not showing up to work on Saturdays and Sundays during the summer schedule.

“And we’ll end up with these mythical ATC capacity restrictions, they’re not capacity restrictions, they’re ATC staff shortages.” The CEO also criticised air traffic control providers for not being fully staffed, saying he believes the European Union should be “fining” them, for not carrying out their jobs.

He explained that flights that take off first thing in the morning are the most important, stating that if these flights run steadily then the flights for the rest of the day will operate smoothly and on time. O’Leary believes this is key for ensuring there are no issues for Brits heading off on their summer holiday.

French air traffic control staff have a record of striking during peak travel periods. In July 2025, strikes on July 3 and 4 led to more than 1,000 cancelled flights and over 3,000 delays, affecting more than 1 million passengers, according to Skycop.com.

More recently on January 9, a nationwide air traffic control strike in France caused more than 900 fights to be cancelled- and these strikes in France don’t just affect travellers heading directly in or out of the country.

Due to France’s central location in Europe, it means the shortage of air traffic control staff due to strikes can disrupt flights that either take off, land in or pass over France.

According to Eurocontrol, over 60 per cent of Western European flights either depart from, land in or pass over French airspace.

And when air traffic control staffing is short, large areas of airspace become unavailable, forcing cancellations and delays across multiple countries.

Last winter, Ryanair cut 25 routes to France, including services to Bergerac, Brive and Strasbourg. Looking ahead, the airline’s chief commercial officer, Jason McGuinness, hinted that more cuts could be coming to the airline in the future.

“Ryanair will leave French regional airports in the summer of 2026,” he said.

No official details have yet been released regarding which additional regional airports will be affected.

Brits planning to travel to Europe this summer are advised to monitor flight updates closely, expect possible delays and allow extra time for connecting flights.