Ryanair requests reaction from EU institutions due to air traffic control strike in Serbia

Europe’s biggest low-cost airline carrier, Ryanair, has announced that, in the first two days of the strike of the Serbian Air Traffic Control Union (SKL), 99 flights were delayed, disrupting 17,800 EU passengers, due to which it has requested the Brussels institutions to react.

The company warns that the strike not only affects passengers who travel from or to Belgrade, but that it will also disrupt overflights, as it said, “because Serbia’s minimum service laws do not protect overflights during national ATC strikes, unlike in other countries such as Italy, Spain, and Greece,” that is, they also affect passengers who have nothing to do with Serbia, Beta reports.

– This is completely unfair and highlights the need to protect EU passenger flights from being unnecessarily disrupted by national ATC strikes, just because they happen to cross that airspace. Ryanair calls on [Ursula von der Leyen] to take urgent action to protect overflights during national ATC strikes – the statement says.

The SKL strike began on Wednesday, August 20, and will last for a total of 40 days, that is, until September 30.

The main request of SKL, as said, pertains to an urgent and substantial salary increase for certain employee categories.

The Serbia and Montenegro Air Traffic Services Agency (SMATSA) subsequently said that the minimum work process was being complied with during the strike.

The Aero Telegraf portal says that the space for which SMATSA is in charge, that is, the space above Serbia and Montenegro, sees up to 3,000 flights a day in the season, as it is one of the more important corridors between north and west Europe and destinations in the Balkans, the Middle East and southeast Asia.

Kontrola letenja Srbije i Crne Gore SMATSA d.o.o. Beograd

Ryanair

Serbian Air Traffic Control Union

Serbia and Montenegro Air Traffic Services Agency

SMATSA

air traffic control strike in Serbia