- Ryanair urged immediate reform of French ATC.
- The Senate report confirmed staffing and technology shortfalls.
- Delays are forecast to reach €1.7 billion per year by 2035.
- Overflights between non French countries face disruption during strikes.
- Uncapped recruitment and shorter training times form part of the calls.
Ryanair has called on the French government to reform air traffic control after the Senate published a report on DSNA. The report confirmed that the provider remains understaffed and relies on obsolete technology. Officials continue to review capacity issues as traffic grows.
The Senate document took place in advance of forecasts that French ATC delays will cost airlines €1.7 billion per year by 2035. Productivity stayed below the EU average. Training for controllers took five years in France compared with less than two years in the United Kingdom and Ireland.
30pc of French controllers are due to retire by 2035. Modernisation projects ran 13 years behind schedule. DSNA still uses paper flight strips and 1990s radio systems.
Neal McMahon shared “This French Senate report confirms what airlines and passengers have known for years French ATC Europe’s weakest link woefully mismanaged understaffed underproductive and still using technology that belongs in a museum. It is extraordinary that France is still using paper flight strips and outdated radio systems while its so called modernisation programme is more than a decade behind schedule.”
