Ryanair flies 20.7M passengers in July 2025 despite French ATC strikes
Low-cost carrier Ryanair announced that it transported over 20 million passengers in July 2025, despite hundreds of flight cancellations due to French air traffic control (ATC) strikes.
On August 5, 2025, the airline published its traffic statistics for July 2025, revealing a record of 20.7 million passengers, which is a 3% increase from the same month last year when the airline reported carrying 20.2 million passengers.
The airline’s load factor, indicating the average percentage of seats filled on its aircraft, remained unchanged from July 2024, at 96%.
Ryanair demands EU action on strikes
Ryanair reported that it conducted more than 113,000 flights in July 2025, with 680 cancellations primarily due to strikes by French air traffic controllers. French controllers went on strike on July 3–4, 2025, in dispute over better working conditions.
Due to the two-day industrial action, airlines such as Ryanair and easyJet had to cancel hundreds of flights, while airports in Paris cut traffic by as much as 40% at the request of the French civil aviation authority (DGAC).
According to data from Eurocontrol, the strikes delayed an average of 3,713 flights each day of the strike and led to about 1,422 cancellations daily.
Moreover, the strikes also affected flights in neighboring countries, particularly Spain, the United Kingdom, and Italy, causing a total of 354,000 minutes of direct air traffic flow management (ATFM) delays across the network.
The strikes resulted in an estimated cost of €47 million in delay costs and around €73 million in cancellation costs, totaling approximately €120 million in just two days.
Airlines impacted by the strikes have called for quick reforms at EU level regarding ATC services.
In a previous statement Ryanair urged EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to take immediate steps to reform EU ATC services, stating that the ongoing strikes made “no sense” and were “abundantly unfair on EU passengers”.
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The post Ryanair flies 20.7M passengers in July 2025 despite French ATC strikes appeared first on AeroTime.
Low-cost carrier Ryanair announced that it transported over 20 million passengers in July 2025, despite hundreds of flight…
The post Ryanair flies 20.7M passengers in July 2025 despite French ATC strikes appeared first on AeroTime.
