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Striking controllers demonstrate the scourge of sovereignty
Subtlety is not Ryanair’s strongpoint. Its business has grown on the back of in-your-face advertising campaigns and a CEO not afraid to steal the limelight. Ryanair is essentially the bad boy of European aviation. The cool kid with the devil-may-care attitude, who everyone admires but no one has the guts to be.
Ryanair’s current headline-grabbing campaign is an online petition for, first, the removal of air traffic controllers’ right to strike and, second, to allow other European controllers to manage flights over French airspace during any strikes. Frustrated passengers, whose holiday plans have been scuppered by striking French or Belgian air traffic controllers, are being encouraged to sign up. Once the petition reaches one million signatories, Ryanair will personally deliver it to the European Commission.
Is this anything more than another Ryanair publicity stunt? The petition is not listed on the official register of European Citizen’s Initiatives, which enables EU citizens to show their support for potential new European legislation. Nor is it evident that the European Commission even has any power in this area, including the ability to amend the French Constitution.
Ryanair’s campaign also contradicts the views of A4E, of which Ryanair is a member. A4E’s website states that ‘A4E accepts that the right to strike is a fundamental right’ and, indeed, many of its members have faced their own internal strike action. Their union officials will be watching carefully.
A4E’s own campaign on controller strikes is a bit subtler. So subtle that we can only guess at how they think this problem should be solved. Publically, A4E, along with AEA, are calling for ‘urgent action’ and for ‘the European Commission to act immediately to defend consumers’. Their response to last week’s walkout by Belgian controllers was to declare that ‘A4E strongly condemns this walkout’. What next? A strongly worded letter?
Privately, they might be wondering if Ryanair has a point. Still, it’s easier to let Ryanair be the battering ram on this issue, while maintaining a safe distance.
We suspect Ryanair’s real goal is the second part of its petition: to allow other European controllers to manage a French airspace when its controllers are striking. The ban on a right to strike is just there to get your attention.
However, for Ryanair to be able to use alternative controllers during French industrial action, the Commission will need to tear up its current air traffic management (ATM) Masterplan. It will also require significant re-training, changes to procedures, and additional investment and research.
None of this will be cheap. And, given this is the EU, you can’t change the rules for one country’s airspace without also changing the rules governing everyone else’s, even where the threat of strike action is minimal. The economics of Ryanair’s proposal quickly fail to add up.
So, for now, the controllers are able to uphold the Peace of Westphalia. Sovereignty over airspace remains, and controllers from one country cannot interfere with the airspace of another. There is little airlines can do to mitigate the effects of striking controllers.
However, the wider principle of enabling controllers to operate outside their national boundaries is still worth serious consideration, including by the A4E. Controller strikes serve to demonstrate the issues with airspace sovereignty. As we’ve said repeatedly, the liberalisation of the ATM industry has many benefits, and is should not just be considered as a means of managing industrial action. Just don’t expect this proposal to be popular amongst controllers, particularly the French ones.
