ATC staff in France will walkout on Thursday (16 February) for the fifth time this year, prompting Ryanair director of operations Neal McMahon to lay down a direct challenge to Ursula von der Leyen to "step up" and solve the problem or "step down" from her role as president of the commission.

Ryanair said the action would Thursday would affect thousands of passengers, and warned EU inaction was harming free movement.

"If the president of the EU Commission cannot protect European passengers and keep European skies open during these repeated French ATC strikes, then she should step down and make room for someone that will protect European citizens.

McMahon said the situation was "completely unacceptable". "Even passengers who are not flying to/from France are impacted because they overfly French airspace, all the while French laws unfairly protect French domestic flights," he said.

"Ursula von der Leyen must immediately step up and preserve the free movement of people by protecting overflights from these needless strikes, as done in Italy and Greece, or step down and let someone who actually will protect its EU citizens from further disruption due to French ATC strikes."

EasyJet acknowledged the strike and warned: "Like all airlines, our flights to and from French airports, as well as those flying in French airspace, could be affected. We expect there may be delays and some disruption due to the industrial action, therefore we advise all customers to check the status of their flight on our flight tracker."

Jet2.com issued a similar warning: "Strike action is taking place from 5pm GMT on Wednesday 15 February until 5am GMT on Friday 17 February 2023, supported by the air traffic service in France. This means flights operating to or through French airspace may be delayed."