Paris-Charles de Gaulle, Orly and Beauvais airports will cancel a quarter of their operations tomorrow, according to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGAC). As for the rest of the airports, the DGAC has announced a 50% reduction in operations in Nice, as well as in Bastia and Calvi. It has also requested the cancellation of 30% of flights in Lyon, Marseille, Montpellier, Ajaccio and Figari.
Unsa-Icna has denounced the DGAC's ‘toxic’ and ‘authoritarian’ management, criticising the fact that the entity is failing to modernise the tools that are “essential” for air traffic controllers, despite ‘continuing to promise that all resources will be deployed in this area’. It has issued a statement reminding people that the main cause of the delays and poor performance attributable to French air navigation services is ‘well known’, namely ‘structural staff shortages’.
For its part, the DGAC regretted the choice of dates, as ‘they correspond to the busiest days of the year, due to the large number of holiday departures during this period’. It also advised travellers to check the status of their flights with their respective airlines. Last week, the third air traffic controllers' union, Usac-CGT, which had also denounced a ‘seriously deteriorated social context’ at the DGAC, joined the strike. For its part, the largest controllers' union, SNCTA, assured the AFP news agency that it was not calling a strike.
The Spanish employers' association, the Association of Airlines (ALA), has repeatedly spoken out on this situation, requesting that flights crossing France during the air traffic control strikes be protected. Spain is the country most affected by these stoppages after France. ALA president, Javier Gándara, has urged the EU to take a step forward and force Spain to protect overflights in French airspace with minimum services.
Ryanair today called on EU Commission President, Ursula von der Leyen, to take urgent action to reform EU ATC services after the airline was forced to cancel 170 flights disrupting over 30,000 passengers due to yet another French ATC strike. These enforced cancellations by French ATC coincide once more with the start of the European summer holidays – one of the busiest travel periods of the year.
In addition to flights to/from France being cancelled, this strike will also affect all French overflights. This is due to France’s continued failure to protect overflights during national ATC strikes. Even though it’s French ATC that are striking, most disrupted passengers are not even flying to/from France but just overflying French airspace en route to their destination (e.g., UK – Greece, Spain – Ireland, etc.). EU skies cannot be repeatedly closed just because French Air Traffic Controllers are going on recreational strikes.
Ryanair has long campaigned for effective EU ATC reform and calls on all passengers to visit the ‘Air Traffic Control Ruined Your Flight’ webpage and demand that the EU Commission and Govts take urgent action to reform EU ATC services and avoid any further avoidable ATC disruptions this summer.
Ryanair’s Michael O’Leary said: “Once again European families are held to ransom by French Air Traffic Controllers going on strike. It is not acceptable that overflights over French airspace en route to their destination are being cancelled/delayed as a result of yet another French ATC strike. It makes no sense and is abundantly unfair on EU passengers and families going on holidays.
Ryanair calls on Ursula von der Leyen to take urgent action to reform EU ATC services by 1.) ensuring that ATC services are fully staffed for the first wave of daily departures, and 2.) protecting overflights during national ATC strikes. These 2 splendid reforms would eliminate 90% of all ATC delays and cancellations, and protect EU passengers from these repeated and avoidable ATC disruptions due to yet another French ATC strike.”
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The French public sector consumes about 13% of their GDP - around twice the EU average, and yet is one of the less productive. Whilst I don’t share Stan’s sentiments, I agree the French ATC, like all French public sectors, are persistently disruptive, slow to adopt efficiency improvements, militant union-infested and in the case of ATC do it knowing full well they cause serious pan-European disruption.
Every Summer French ATC go on strike. Macron has never done anything to resolve their problems. I despise the "Frogs" They are a Bational disgrace. They are a disgrace to the human race.
All the European airlines should cancel their entire schedules to/from France, thus the overflights might end up being protected.
July and August, the French ATC go on strike. It’s like celebrating Christmas just sooner and sunnier.
A curse on the cheese eating surrender monkeys. How dare they disrupt British holidays. Next thing they will be claiming ownership of the Channel.