Air traffic controllers' strike: hundreds of flights to be cancelled on Friday, particularly at Paris airports
The situation will remain complicated on Friday, July 4, for those planning to travel by air: hundreds of flights will again be canceled, particularly at Paris airports, on the second day of an air traffic controllers' strike.
Hundreds of thousands of people in France and Europe were already affected by this social movement on Thursday, triggered by two minority unions demanding improved working conditions and increased staffing levels.
The French Civil Aviation Authority (DGAC) estimated the number of flights canceled on Thursday, departing from or arriving in France, at 933, or around 10% of the flights initially scheduled. Locally, these rates were much higher: 50% at Nice, France's third-largest airport, and 25% at Paris-Charles-de-Gaulle and Orly, which together account for 350,000 passengers a day during the summer.
On Friday, the day of major departures, the DGAC asked airlines to reduce their flight schedules by 40%, which promises an even more tense situation at Paris airports.
François Bayrou castigates a "shocking" strikePrime Minister François Bayrou called the strike "shocking." "It's taking the French hostage to choose the day everyone goes on vacation to hold an air traffic control strike," he said Thursday evening on BFM-TV.
The effects of the strike are being felt beyond national borders, with the main European airline association, Airlines for Europe (A4E), estimating that 1,500 flights would be cancelled across Europe on Thursday and Friday, "affecting almost 300,000 passengers" on the Old Continent. "This strike is intolerable. French air traffic control is already responsible for some of the worst delays in Europe, and now the actions of a minority of French air traffic controllers will disrupt the holiday plans of thousands of people in France and Europe," said A4E's director general, Ourania Georgoutsakou, quoted in a statement .
According to the DGAC, the strike rate stood at 26.2% on Thursday, with 272 controllers taking part in the action out of a thousand service personnel. The second-largest air traffic controllers' union, UNSA-ICNA (17% of the vote in the last professional elections), launched this movement to demand better working conditions and increased staffing levels. It was joined by the third-largest union in the profession, USAC-CGT (16%). The largest union, SNCTA (60% of the vote), did not call for a strike.
Delays in Europe largely due to French strikeThroughout Thursday, flights that were still operating experienced significant delays, particularly in Nice and Marseille. A4E estimated that on Thursday, there were "almost 500,000 minutes" of cumulative delays in Europe, on nearly 33,000 commercial flights, with many planes using French airspace without necessarily landing in the country.
Europe's largest airline, Ryanair, announced Thursday that it had had to cancel 400 flights, affecting 70,000 passengers. Its boss, Michael O'Leary, no stranger to public outbursts, denounced the situation as caused "by a small number of French air traffic controllers participating in recreational strikes" and urged European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to reform air traffic control in Europe, or failing that, to resign.
Air France confirmed that it had been "forced to adapt its flight schedule" , without specifying the number of cancellations, but stressed that its long-haul network had not been affected on Thursday.
The strike is costing airlines "millions of euros," Transport Minister Philippe Tabarot warned on Thursday, reiterating his refusal to give in to the unions ' "unacceptable" demands .
A controversial reform is underway to establish a clock-in system for controllers upon taking up their duties, following a "serious incident" at Bordeaux airport in late 2022, when two planes nearly collided. An investigation blamed the incident on the poor organization of the controllers' work, outside the legal framework and without respect for the duty roster.
Among the UNSA-ICNA's grievances: "Understaffing maintained and responsible for delays for a good part of the summer" , obsolete tools and "toxic management, incompatible with the imperatives of serenity and security required" .
The World with AFP
Contribute
