A strike of French air traffic controllers leads to the failure of many connections at the beginning of the summer vacation. The airports are affected in Paris and other cities – and hundreds of thousands of travelers.
Because of a strike of French air traffic controllers at the start of the summer vacation, numerous flights fail today and on Friday. According to the flight supervision, a quarter of the flights from and to Paris were painted today. At the airport in Nice in Nice, every second flight, in Marseille 30 percent of all flights. Hundreds of thousands of air travelers are affected by the strike on the busiest days of the year.
There are also failures and delays in other countries, since flights over France are also affected. For example, the Ryanair airline announced that, in addition to flights from and to France, all French overshoots also announced. Passengers who fly over the French airspace from Great Britain to Greece and Spain to Ireland are also affected. There is therefore 170 flights out of Ryanair alone, and more than 30,000 passengers are affected across Europe.
270 air traffic controllers take part
The airline reacted to the French flight supervision, which Airlines proven to delete part of its flights. This should also ensure security with fewer staff. Of around 1,400 air traffic controllers, around 270 participate in the strike, according to insiders.
Two air traffic controllers had called for the strike that demand better working conditions. Among other things, they protest against a reform that provides for stricter requirements and presence controls of the air traffic controllers. This was introduced after a collision of two aircraft had almost occurred in Bordeaux in Bordeaux.
An Airbus A320 from Easyjet had had to stop his approach at the last moment because a sports plane was on the slopes. Of the six air traffic controllers originally divided, only three were on duty in the end – and one took a break at the moment of the incident. The Air Safety Authority Bea had later recommended a presence check for the air traffic controllers to their posts.
Strike at the beginning of the summer vacation
Transport Minister Philippe Tabarot excluded the demands on the eve of the strike. “The demands made by minority unions are just as unacceptable as the decision to go on strike at the beginning of the holiday,” he said yesterday.
For the French, the strike comes to the process: In France, the summer holidays begin nationwide on Saturday, in many secondary schools the lower grades are already free due to the Abitur exams. The strike is unacceptable because it confuses holiday plans from thousands of people, Airlines for Europe, explained an association of 17 airlines.
Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary said similarly: “Again, families across Europe become hostages of the strike of the French air traffic controllers.” He asked the EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to take measures to reform the air traffic controller services.
