French air traffic controllers' strike hits Balearic flights

French air-traffic controllers began a three-day strike to protest against EU plans to create a single European airspace.
The controllers said the Single European Sky (SES) project will affect public safety and their working conditions.
Walk-outs are expected to spread across Europe today which will affect international flight in and out of the Balearics even more. “A direct attack” The European Commission, which drafts EU laws, estimates that inefficiencies in the way Europe's air traffic is managed add 42km (26 miles) to the average flight.

It wants to centralise air-traffic controls, rather than leave each member state, to monitor its own skies.
The commission says this could triple the region's airspace capacity, cut costs and reduce delays.
Under the plan, the many national air traffic control systems would be merged into nine Functional Airspace Blocks (FABs), with a new European network manager being given authority, for route planning.

But France's main controllers' union, the USAC-CGT, says the plans are “a direct attack on the public service nature of this sector” and a step towards privatisation.

It says the changes constitute a “violation of national sovereignty” and will have an negative impact on working conditions.
In April, the European Transport Workers' Federation (ETF), which is backing the action, criticised what it said was a “never ending process of liberalisation, deregulation and cost cutting” in the air traffic management industry.