Millions of passengers flying to and from the UK could face flight delays during this year’s summer peak due to a “broken air traffic control system”, a Ryanair boss has warned. Travel disruption caused by air traffic control issues across Europe hit a 23-year high last year, chief executive Michael O’Leary claimed, with the upward trend expected to continue between June and August 2025. “It will be worse than last summer, particularly at weekends,” he told The Independent. “Europe needs to fix what is a broken air traffic control system, which we pay ridiculously expensive fees for.”
The news outlet estimates that one in three flights arriving in the UK was over 15 minutes behind schedule during the busy months of June, July and August last year. This could rise to 30 million of the 90 million-odd travellers expected to fly to and from UK airports this summer. Analysis of the Eurocontrol Performance Review Report for 2024 showed that the disruption could be traced to a shortage of on-the-ground staff as well as weather-related problems.
READ MORE: Travel experts’ best places in Italy, Greece, Spain not ruined by tourists The budget airline boss was also vocal in his criticism of high European Air Traffic Control (ATC) charges, suggesting that they have stifled the growth of the aviation industry.
In a list of ‘New Year resolutions for EU governments’, Mr O’Leary said ATC should be funded “by governments” rather than “airlines and passengers”.
His firm stance against what he views as unreasonable aviation taxes has led Ryanair to axe some of its popular routes around the continent, including journeys to Italy, France and Spain.
In a new interview, he said that ATC delays had doubled in the last five years – criticising governments for hiking air passenger duty and caps on passenger numbers without an improvement in performance.
“I wouldn’t object to those higher fees if we were getting an acceptable service,” Mr O’Leary said. “And yet last year, in 2024, we suffered record ATC delays.
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“Major air navigation service providers all over Europe have admitted to us that they are understaffed, and that ATC delays this summer will be worse than they were last summer. So we’re paying increased fees for a service that’s broken. It’s unacceptable.”
Despite this, Mr O’Leary rubbished Chancellor Rachel Reeves’s proposal for expansions at the busy dual and single-runway airports, describing plans to build a third runway at Heathrow as a “deadcat” that wouldn’t happen until the 2040s and would not bring growth to the sector.
The European Commission said: “Insufficient airspace capacity, as seen in recent years, leads to long delays and difficulties for passengers.
“These delays affect the efficiency of the entire air transport system. Delays are the cause of additional costs for airlines, and they increase the sector’s carbon footprint, with additional emissions from aircraft flying more fuel-inefficient routes.”
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