'There's going to be more' - Ryanair boss Michael O'Leary warns of more flight cancellations

Ryanair were forced to cancel 400 flights on Thursday, 3 July and Friday, 4 July due to strikes by French air traffic controllers, leaving thousands of Irish people stranded.

Speaking on Newstalk on Friday morning, Ryanair's CEO Michael O'Leary has warned that people should expect more cancellations over the coming months. 

As part of the strikes, the French airspace has been closed and so any planes flying over France but not landing there have been cancelled. As O'Leary explained, flights from Ireland to Italy, Germany, Spain, Portugal and Belgium all have to be cancelled because of this.

When asked if he expects more strikes down the line, O'Leary said: "Of course there's going to be more. They're the French, it's June, it's July. It's time to go on strike. I mean, they're not striking for more money. They're not striking for better terms and conditions. These guys, every summer just invent new reasons to go on strike."

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During the show, he described this week's strike by the French air traffic controllers as "recreational." The Ryanair boss said: "The reason for these two day strikes is because they believe they're short staffed. So their solution to short staffing is to go out and strike, leaving even less staff." 

He added: "Only the French could come up with this kind of nonsense."

O'Leary has urged that the EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Irish politicians implement serious reforms in order to protect airlines and passengers from such strikes.

He said: "If we protected overflights, 360 of these 400 flight cancellations, and 60,000 passengers, yesterday and today would not have their flights cancelled by Ryanair."

The Ryanair CEO has said the EU Commission President should step down if she is not willing to implement this reform.