European holidaymakers face another summer of travel misery as EasyJet warns of widespread delays across Europe, with French air traffic control singled out as the main culprit.
Sophie Dekkers, Chief Commercial Officer at Easyjet, has sounded the alarm over the fragile state of Europe’s skies, accusing France of poor planning, understaffing and an inability to manage the volume of flights crossing its airspace.
The consequences, she warned, will ripple far beyond France’s borders, causing delays across the continent and upending travel plans for millions.
Speaking candidly this week, Ms Dekkers said the airline is already grappling with “severe disruption” caused by issues in French airspace, where air traffic control appears ill-equipped for the post-Covid rebound in passenger numbers.
“The biggest issue we’ve got is resourcing and the actual planning of the airspace,” she told The Times. “They don’t have the people on the ground to cope with the amount of traffic that’s covering their airspace, and they don’t have the capacity to cope with the traffic.”
This summer, 70 per cent of short-haul flights from the UK pass through French-controlled skies. When that system falters, it doesn’t just affect flights to France itself—but to Spain, Italy, Greece, Croatia and beyond.
“What passengers don’t always see,” Dekkers explained, “is the knock-on impact. When people ask why their flight from London to Scotland is delayed because of French air traffic control, it’s because that aircraft was meant to fly to Spain first and back again. If it gets held up in Europe, the entire day’s schedule is thrown off.”
In practical terms, most aircraft complete several rotations a day. If a single flight is delayed early in the schedule, the consequences cascade throughout the airline’s network. The result? Hours spent waiting on tarmacs, missed connections, and frustrated families marooned in terminals.
Since Easter, EasyJet says nearly half—49 per cent—of its delays have been directly linked to air traffic control issues. That’s a staggering 77 per cent increase on last year’s figures, despite the airline’s efforts to streamline operations and prepare for the summer rush.
To make matters worse, the wider European airspace is still operating under pressure from the Ukraine conflict, which has left around 20 per cent of routes closed. With commercial flights forced to take longer and more circuitous paths to avoid Russian and Ukrainian skies, the burden on French airspace has only increased.
EU officials have admitted the system is operating at maximum capacity, citing staff shortages and a lack of long-term planning. The Covid-19 pandemic saw a dramatic downturn in travel, during which thousands of aviation professionals were laid off. Recovery, however, has been patchy. While passenger demand has returned faster than expected, staffing levels—particularly in air traffic control—have not kept pace.
The problem is especially acute in France, which oversees one of the largest and busiest flight corridors in Europe. Unlike the UK’s National Air Traffic Services (NATS), France’s equivalent has faced repeated criticism over its sluggish modernisation efforts and industrial unrest.
Indeed, French air traffic controllers have a notorious record of walkouts—frequently grounding flights across the continent in defence of pension rights or labour conditions. Though the current disruption is not strike-related, the structural weakness remains the same: a system ill-prepared for the sheer volume of flights now attempting to cross Europe.
British travellers are likely to bear the brunt. With schools breaking up and the great summer getaway in full swing, demand is nearing pre-pandemic levels. But airlines, already under pressure from fuel costs and logistical challenges, are increasingly being let down by the very systems meant to keep the skies running.
While EasyJet has invested heavily in resilience—adding extra aircraft and crew, and improving turnaround times—air traffic control sits beyond its control. “We can plan meticulously,” Ms Dekkers said, “but when the skies above France grind to a halt, there’s only so much we can do.”
Industry insiders are now calling for urgent EU-level action to overhaul the continent’s fractured aviation infrastructure. Proposals to integrate national air traffic systems under a single European framework—long resisted by certain member states, including France—are once again gaining traction.
For now, passengers are being urged to check flight updates regularly, allow extra time at airports, and brace for unexpected delays.
What was once a routine hop to the Med is, once again, becoming a test of patience and endurance. As one weary traveller put it at Gatwick this week: “You expect turbulence in the air—not before you’ve even left the terminal.”
