At least 200 flight cancellations and many delays have been caused as a result of the latest French air traffic controllers’ strike which will continue until Wednesday morning.
The estimate came from industry association Airlines for Europe (A4E).
Control centres in Reims and Marseille have been on strike since Monday evening, forcing airlines to reduce their schedules in France and also services overflying the country.
A4E managing director Thomas Reynaert said: “With two-thirds of all European ATC strike days taking place in France, European and French policy-makers need to implement measures capable of minimising air traffic management disruption’s impact on travellers.
“More than 250 strike days since 2004 are enough – we cannot allow these well-paid air traffic controllers to restrict the rights of millions of European passengers”, said Managing Director of A4E.
A4E calls on the French government to use its National Mobility Summit on September 19 to identify new priorities for transport.
The group also wants the Paris government to consider measures capable of improving the predictability of strikes’ impact and decrease the damage to the French and European economy.
“Given France’s geographical location, ATC strikes in France and a consequential partial closure or the reduction of capacity in French airspace considerably decrease the potential for overflights in French airspace, and decreases the connectivity of and with other member states,” added Reynaert.
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