Holidays will face more disruption than usual this summer while ticket prices will continue to go up, the boss of Ryanair has warned.
Michael O’Leary, chief executive of the budget airline, said strikes by air traffic controllers in France risked “shutting everybody down” if a dispute over pensions rumbled on this summer.
As so many air routes from the UK go ahead France, British holiday makers are likely to get caught up in the industrial action if they're not going to the country directly.
Eurocontrol, which manages air traffic in Europe, anticipates “major air traffic flow management delays” this summer.
It said: “Getting closer to pre-pandemic traffic levels will not be easy. Ramping back up close to 90 per cent of 2019 traffic over the summer (of 2022) caused immense difficulties.
At a press conference on Tuesday afternoon, Mr O'Leary warned that the strikes, the war in Ukraine and rising ticket prices would make travel more stressful this summer.
“The French usually wait until about March-April to start going on strike," he said.
"This year they are starting on Thursday because they are not happy with (Presiden) Macron’s pension reforms.
"The first people to man the barricades are the French air traffic controllers.
“The real pressure will be on Germany because of the situation in Ukraine.
“Most of southern Poland has been closed off for NATO exercises, so everything going north-south from the Baltic states down to Greece and Italy now has to fly around Germany.
“All the long-haul stuff going to Asia now has to fly down around Germany and across Romania, out over Iran, because they can’t fly over Russia.
“So there is real pressure on Germany, northern Italy, those kinds of corridors there and that’s going to be a challenge.”
Mr O'Leary predicted that passengers would not be able to bag £9.99 fares with Ryanair for one or two years, and that prices would only rise from now until the summer.
Despite his warnings, the company is enjoying a period of record sales.
Ryanair received 2.03 million flight bookings last weekend, beating its previous weekend's record-breaking sales.
Mr O'Leary told reporters: "People are worrying that prices are going to rise in the summer - which I think they will.
"People are getting in early and booking their Easter and summer travel."
The CEO said he believes prices rise in “the high single digits” in a percentage compared to prices last year.
Mr O'Leary said he believes the large booking sales are due to people deciding to "scrimp and save" in order to “protect their holiday” despite the current cost of living crisis.
He said: "One of the things that has emerged out of Covid is the annual holiday, or the second holiday, or the week in the sun, is no longer being considered by many to be a luxury that we can drop."
