Ryanair cancellations — impact on tourism in Greece

4.10.2017

Question for written answer E-006206-17
to the Commission
Rule 130
Elissavet Vozemberg-Vrionidi (PPE)

Last week, Ryanair announced the cancellation of 2 100 EU flights up to the end of October, mainly due to problems that have arisen with pilots’ holiday entitlements and anticipated demand on the routes in question. In addition, Ryanair has announced a further 18 000 flight cancellations between November 2017 and March 2018, i.e. approximately one flight per day in each airport for a period of 5 months.

Hundreds of thousands of passengers are now receiving notifications from the company regarding their flights, with no other Ryanair flights available for the period from November 2017 to March 2018.

A considerable number of flights to and from Greek airports have also been cancelled on the following routes: Chania-Athens, Chania-Paphos, Chania-Thessaloniki, Hamburg-Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki-Bratislava, Thessaloniki-Paris and Thessaloniki-Warsaw.

In view of this:

Can the Commission say what effect these cancellations are likely to have on Greek tourist destinations such as Chania and Thessaloniki?

Is it monitoring the situation to ensure that Ryanair is respecting passenger rights regarding cancellations and compensation in line with the relevant European legislation, including Regulation 261/2004/EC on air passengers’ rights?