By Elizabeta Ranxburgaj Ruth Suter
Ryanair has axed 170 flights amid a series of air traffic control strikes. Over 30,000 passengers will face travel disruption amid the start of the summer holidays after the airline said it was forced to cancel the journeys. The disruption comes after a nationwide air traffic controller strike in France that started today. In a statement, the airline said: “In addition to flights to/from France being cancelled, this strike will also affect all French overflights.” In Edinburgh, three flights have been cancelled. They include a 6.05am flight to Biarritz, a 2.05pm journey to Pairs and 7.05pm to Toulouse. As reported in the Mirror , France’s air traffic control union announced its workers would go on strike on July 3 and 4 due to concerns like understaffing, burnout and employees being overworked. The French civil aviation agency DGAC asked several airlines yesterday to reduce the number of flights at airports in Paris by 40% during the industrial action. Ryanair’s CEO Michael O’Leary called for the president of the European Commission to change the EU’s air traffic controllers’ services. He said: “Once again European families are held to ransom by French Air Traffic Controllers going on strike. “It is not acceptable that overflights over French airspace en route to their destination are being cancelled/delayed as a result of yet another French ATC strike. “It makes no sense and is abundantly unfair on EU passengers and families going on holidays .”