Ryanair has stepped up its campaign to encourage the European Commission to protect overflights from being adversely impacted when strikes are held by air traffic controllers.

The budget airline on Wednesday (31 May) delivered a petition signed by more than 1.1 million passengers to the office of commission president Ursula von der Leyen.

Ryanair said that a succession of ATC strikes in Europe this year had forced airlines to ¡°disproportionately cancel¡± thousands of overflights from Germany, Spain, Italy, the UK and Ireland.

The airline is particularly blaming aviation authorities in France for prioritising the protection of domestic and short-haul flights, rather than overflights, during days when air traffic controllers go on strike.

The airline said that overflights were already protected during ATC strikes in several EU countries including Greece, Italy and Spain. Ryanair wants this policy to be applied across all member states.

¡°If this means that a greater number of domestic or short-haul flights are cancelled, then so be it, but flights over France must be protected during French ATC strikes,¡± said Ryanair in a statement.

Ryanair Group CEO Michael O¡¯Leary added: ¡°It is unacceptable that ATC strikes can result in the cancellation of thousands of EU passengers¡¯ flights, while France and other EU member states use minimum service laws to protect their domestic flights.

¡°Europe¡¯s passengers are sick and tired of suffering unnecessary overflight cancellations during ATC strikes. The European Commission must now act upon the petition of more than 1.1 million EU citizens and insist that all states protect overflights during national ATC strikes as is already done in Greece, Italy and Spain.¡±

Ryanair is also asking the commission to enforce binding arbitration on ATC disputes before any strikes can be held, as well as introducing the requirement for a 21-day notice of any planned walkout by ATC staff.