Ryanair has called for an “urgent reform” of Europe’s air traffic control (ATC) system following thousands of “unacceptable” flight delays in Athens.
The budget Irish airline said that an equipment failure at Athens’s ATC centre on Wednesday (20 August) had caused unnecessary delay to flights to and from Greece, including 12 Ryanair flights carrying over 2,000 passengers.
According to the airline, so far in 2025, more than 900,000 Ryanair passengers across over 5,000 flights have been “unfairly delayed” due to “Greek ATC mismanagement and staff shortages.”
Ryanair added that between 1 January and 20 August, Greece had been the fifth-worst-performing ATC service for delays in Europe.
A Ryanair spokesperson said on Wednesday (20 August): “It is unacceptable that passengers continue to suffer ATC disruptions as a result of repeated ATC staff shortages across Europe, and now, another equipment failure today (20 Aug), this time in Athens, which forced the delay of 12 Ryanair flights and over 2,000 Ryanair passengers.
“When will Ursula von “Derlayed-Again” and the EU Commission step up and take action to reform EU ATC and protect passengers from repeated ATC disruptions like this?”
Ryanair told all affected passengers to visit the “Air Traffic Control Ruined Your Flight” webpage and “demand action to improve Europe’s failing ATC system”.
In April, the Greek Air Traffic Controllers’ Association told The Independent: “Unfortunately, air traffic control in Greece is in a bad situation as we have staffing shortages and equipment problems which cause a lot of delays in the last years and will cause a lot this year as well.”
UK holidaymakers are experiencing what are said to be the worst air-traffic control (ATC) issues in 25 years – with 30 million passengers expected to be delayed this summer, reported the Independent’s travel correspondent Simon Calder.
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