Tourists have been warned of a “challenging” summer of flight disruptions due to “overstretched” air traffic control.

Eurocontrol, which manages European airspace, said it would experience overload on most days in key regions including Athens, Budapest, Reims and Marseille, the Times reported.

Similar advisories were issued for peak days, especially Fridays and weekends, in London, Brussels, Barcelona, Zagreb, Nicosia and Warsaw.

These conditions can cause delays and aircraft to be diverted to longer routes to avoid congested areas.

The warning comes after Raúl Medina, Eurocontrol’s director general, told the Airports Council’s International General Assembly in Barcelona last week that the industry was better prepared than last year, which experienced major delays and disruptions.

He said that while aviation is “ready to cope” with the summer traffic surge, the coming months will be “challenging.”

“This summer in Europe is challenging as we have less airspace available due to the war in Ukraine and military needs. To be successful over the summer, we need everyone to do their part,” he said.

He added: “Recent industrial action caused a lot of network delays. We can handle situations like that in calmer periods, but if it happens in the height of summer, it will be much more challenging. We need to be prepared”.

Eurocontrol expects around 33,000 daily flights to take place from July to mid-August, an increase of more than 7% over the same period last year.

On Fridays the figure is expected to be even higher. However, the predictions are still not reaching pre-pandemic levels.