SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549


FORM 6-K


Report of Foreign Private Issuer


Pursuant to Rule 13a-16 or 15d-16
of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934


For the month of May 2008

RYANAIR HOLDINGS PLC
(Translation of registrant's name into English)

c/o Ryanair Ltd Corporate Head Office
Dublin Airport
County Dublin Ireland
(Address of principal executive offices)


Indicate by check mark whether the registrant files or will file annual
reports under cover Form 20-F or Form 40-F.

Form 20-F..X.. Form 40-F.....


Indicate by check mark whether the registrant by furnishing the information
contained in this Form is also thereby furnishing the information to the
Commission pursuant to Rule 12g3-2(b) under the Securities Exchange
Act of 1934.

Yes ..... No ..X..


If "Yes" is marked, indicate below the file number assigned to the registrant
in connection with Rule 12g3-2(b): 82- ________

 

 
AIR TRAFFIC 
CHAOS

Today, 30
th
 May
 2008
, Italian Air Traffic Control are on strike once again. This is the 
eight
h
 
time since January 200
7
 that Italian Air Traffic Controllers have gone on strike, disrupting the business and holiday plans of millions of passengers.  

Similarly, French Air Traffic Control have gone on strike 
seven 
times since 
January 
200
7
. Between them
,
 the 
French and
 Italian air traffic control average a strike every 
five 
weeks. It is 
a 
disgrace that these State 
monopolies
 
should be permitted to sabotage European aviation, while at the same time the Governments
,
 which own them impose unjustified penalties on the airlines who are the victims of this State sponsored anarchy.  

Other Air Traffic Control providers 
might 
as well have been on strike
,
 given the level of inexcusable 
"
staff shortages
"
 in UK ATC (NATS) and the Danish ATC (
NAVIAIR
) over the past week, or 
earlier this year in 
Irish Air Traffic Control
,
 where controllers 
tried to 
h
o
ld the country to ransom 
by 
seeking 
a 15% pay rise to their €142K 
benefits
, simply to be available for requests for overtime.

The same pattern is repeated every year.  
Government m
onopoly ATC providers fail to control either their costs or their staff and allow restrictive work practices to ha
ndicap recruitment and training. This inevitably leads 
to 
long delays 
throughout the Summer
. During the quieter 
Winter
 months these
 monopolies claim that 
all 
problem
s
 ha
ve
 been fixed until
, of course, they are 
repeated the following year. 

Speaking today, Ryanair's Director of Flight & Ground Operations, David O'Brien said:

"
Ryanair passengers enjoy the best service in Europe - the lowest fares, best punctuality and fewest lost bags. It is an outrage that monopoly ATC providers should
 
be permitted to sabotage the 
travel plans of
 
millions
 of passengers 
every Summer
,
 
while
 
increas
ing
 the
ir charges at the same time.  

"
EU Governments 
ha
ve
 failed abysmally to protect 
passengers 
from the service failures of these over priced monopolies. Instead of taking on the difficult task of challenging over priced, 
national 
monopolies, the EU has instead wasted time and money 
o
n meaningless PR stunts
 such as their ill advised EU261 
regulation.
  Ryanair, on behalf of our 60 million passengers, calls on the E
U
 Commission to:

•
    
Require 
monopoly ATC suppliers 
to compensate passengers 
for 
flight delays
. There is no acceptable excuse for the collapse in Air Traffic Control performance 
which 
occur
s
 
at the beginning of every Summer,
 and which is 
now being 
repeated this Summer
.

•
    Prohibit ATC providers from recovering 
lost 
income lost 
due 
to strikes 
or service failures 
by 
increased 
levies on airlines and passengers in subsequent years.

•
    
Allow 
competi
tion into EU Air Traffic C
ontrol in order to eliminate the scandal of strikes, delays and service failures which blight European aviation and disrupt the lives of millions of EU passengers. 


Ends
.
    
    
    
    
    
    
    Friday, 30
th
 May 2008

For reference:
    
    Lorna Farren - Ryanair
    Pauline McAlester - Murray Consultants
    
    
                     Tel: +353-1-8121271
     
 Tel: +353-1-4980300
 

SIGNATURES

Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the Registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, hereunto duly authorized.

                                                                                                                       RYANAIR HOLDINGS PLC

 


Date:  30 May, 2008

 

                                                                                                                        By:___/s/ James Callaghan____

                                                                                                                        James Callaghan
                                                                                                                        Company Secretary & Finance Director