Ryanair has issued an apology for an ‘unacceptable’ level of delays on its flights – and explained why it was happening. The admission came as Jet2 warned of potential delays to flights due to weather this week, and easyJet and Wizz were also forced to make schedule changes.

Ryanair spoke out today (July 1) in a statement after it admitted that passengers had been hit by ‘excessive’ delays over the weekend.

The airline put the blame on air traffic control in Europe – although other carriers like easyJet and Jet2 were also hit – and they highlighted bad weather as a key cause. Ryanair said: “Ryanair, Europe’s No.1 airline, on Mon 01 Jul apologised to its passengers for the excessive flight delays caused by European ATC staff shortages today 01 Jul which are affecting all European airlines.

“ATC services, which have had the benefit of no French ATC strike disruption this summer, continue to underperform (despite flight volumes being 5% behind 2019 levels) with repeated “staff shortages”. On Mon 01 Jul, 19% of Ryanair’s first wave departures (111 of 578 aircraft) were delayed due to ATC “staff shortages”. These repeated flight delays due to ATC mismanagement are unacceptable.

“We apologise to our passengers for these repeated ATC flight delays which are deeply regrettable but beyond Ryanair’s control.” On Sunday, 93 – or 16% – of its early morning departures were delayed, which the airline described as ‘unacceptable’.

Meanwhile, EasyJet cancelled dozens of flights from London Gatwick on Saturday, with the airline telling The Independent that air traffic control restrictions across Europe as a result of thunderstorms and capacity restrictions were to blame. The cancellations were in addition to the 78 flights easyJet was forced to cancel on Friday due to an aborted take-off at Gatwick by a British Airways plane.

Wizz Air also warned that weather conditions and ‘recent ATC challenges’ for expected ‘significant disruptions’ to its flight schedule ‘in the coming days’.

Airline Jet2 issued a warning to passengers today saying some of the key routes in the Mediterranean are facing delays and disruption. The Eastern Mediterranean and Balearic Islands including Mallorca, Menorca, Ibiza and Formentera have been hit by violent thunderstorms – and more are forecast.

The airline said that disruption may take place until Wednesday July 3 and warned people that they needed to allow more time to get to the airport and also plan for poor driving conditions. In an update on Monday July 1 Jet2 said: “We are currently experiencing some Air Traffic Control slot delays on flights that are due to arrive, depart or fly across the Eastern Mediterranean and the Balearic Islands, this is due to adverse weather conditions (Thunder Storms) in many parts of Eastern Europe.

“If you are currently on holiday and experiencing bad weather, please allow plenty of time to get to the airport and allow for potential bad road conditions on route. Our UK Based Operations team is working hard to minimise disruption to our flying programme, however, you may experience some disruption if you are travelling to/from areas affected.”

The airline said that people should check their website before setting off to make sure of the flight details and added that currently there are not cancellations. It said: “All Jet2.com flights are operating. Where possible we will board flights as close to on time as possible, this will allow us to achieve a departure as soon as we are given clearance from Air Traffic Control. We apologise in advance if this causes an extended wait on board before you depart. Our Friendly Red Team and Crew will keep you updated.

“For updates, please ensure that your contact details are up to date via ‘Manage My Booking’ as all updates will not only be displayed on this page of the Jet2.com website, we will also SMS and Email affected customers using the details on your booking. You can update your contact details as often as you wish and at any time on the App or our website. We will continue to monitor this situation and look forward to welcoming you on board very soon.“

The area is often hit by violent storms – last month there were 826 lightning strikes in the Balearic Islands in 24 hours, with 2cm diameter hailstones also. Extreme weather in recent days has caused chaos in a number of locations, including Mallorca where 9cm of rain fell in less than an hour on June 11. The island’s airport Palma temporarily grounded flights due to flooding on the runway, while footage shared on social media shows rain gushing through the ceiling in the duty-free store.