French air traffic strike to affect thousands of passengers

Tens of thousands of passengers are set be affected by a French air traffic control strike on Friday.

Ryanair has cancelled 420 flights, most of which were scheduled to fly over France, affecting 80,000 passengers.

EasyJet is cancelling 76 flights, British Airways will cancel 22, while Air France said it would only run 45% of its short-haul flights.

The SNCTA air traffic control union said the walkout was over wages, as inflation soars, and recruitment.

The cancelled flights include many that fly over France, not just those to and from the country.

Ryanair said all passengers affected had been notified this morning. The low-cost carrier normally operates more than 3,000 flights per day.

Neal McMahon, Ryanair operations director, said it was "inexplicable" that thousands of European citizens and visitors "will have their travel plans unfairly disrupted".

"It is inexcusable that passengers who are not even flying to or from France are disrupted," he said.

He said French laws protect French domestic flights, but not ones flying over the country.

"It is time that the European Union step in and protect overflights so that European passengers are not repeatedly held to ransom by a tiny French air traffic control union," he said.

Ryanair called for other European air traffic controllers to be allowed to manage flights over France to ease the impact.

Budget rival EasyJet said it had cancelled flights at the request of French authorities.

EasyJet said: "While this is outside of our control, we would like to apologise to our customers for any inconvenience they may experience."

British Airways will cancel 22 flights - or 11 return - to and from Heathrow, including some which fly over France. It also said there could be some extra delays on the day.

Air France KLM said the French civil aviation authority - DGAC - had asked airlines to cut their Friday schedules from all French airports by 50%.

Air France said it would only run 45% of its short and medium-haul flights, and 90% of long-haul. It also warned delays and last minute cancellations could not be ruled out.

Aviation expert John Strickland said that French air traffic control "covers a significant area of territory within European airspace".

"Given France's geography, most flights from the UK and Ireland to Spain and Portugal would normally overfly France and be controlled by its air traffic control service."

He said the strike would mean some services would have to take long circuitous routes around French air space.

Mr Strickland added that it was not "a simple matter of other countries picking up the slack" because manpower was tight, so there was little or no capacity to do this, "not to mention the complexity or impossibility of handling additional flights in already busy airspace".

Announcing the strike yesterday, the SNCTA union cited "the absence of a guarantee on recruitment for 2023 and the following years" and said "the absence of a salary increase is unjustifiable" considering soaring inflation.

The flight cuts affect the whole of France and will affect several airlines, the DGAC said, adding that it was currently working with the European air travel regulator Eurocontrol to help airlines avoid the country's air space.

Strikes across the aviation industry caused severe disruption to Europe's summer traffic, including ground and cabin personnel, who sought pay rises to cope with increased living costs amid high inflation.

In July, several strikes by firefighters and staff at Paris' Charles De Gaulle airport led to cancellations and delays.

Separately, British Airways said it would cancel 100 flights on Monday "as a mark of respect for Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II on the day of her state funeral".

Virgin Atlantic said four US flights would be affected by cancellations on Sunday and Monday.

Heathrow said arrivals and departures would cease for parts of Monday afternoon "as a mark of respect for the solemnity of this sad and unique occasion", and flights will be diverted around Windsor Castle "to minimise noise during the private family service and interment".