EasyJet is cancelling almost 130 flights a day due to a three-day strike by French air traffic controllers from today.
British Airways, Air France/KLM and Lufthansa also announced cancellations with the German airline listing 125 flights dropped.
The three-day strike is in protest against EU plans to create a single European airspace. Strikes and walk-outs are expected to spread across Europe tomorrow.
Controllers say the Single European Sky (SES) project will affect public safety and their working conditions.
The French unions’ counterparts in 10 other European countries are set to join in the strikes on Wednesday or hold other industrial action in the UK, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, France, Hungary, Italy, Portugal, Spain and Slovakia.
EasyJet cancellations today include 17 to and from Nice, 11 to and from Toulouse, and 22 to and from Paris’s Charles de Gaulle airport.
The airline said: “EasyJet and all other airlines operating to and from France have been advised to expect only 50% of normal services, which means we will be required to cancel approximately 128 flights each day.”
The disruption follows Ryanair cancelling 102 flights today and calling on the European Commission and French authorities to intervene to prevent the strike.
The carrier condemned the European Commission’s continuing failure to act on its repeated call for the removal of the right to strike from Europe’s air traffic controllers.
It demanded the commission and the French government intervene to prevent further cancellations and delays on Wednesday and Thursday.
A spokesman said: “It is unacceptable that the skies over Europe are repeatedly closed or flights are delayed by the unjustified strike action of tiny numbers of air traffic controllers.
“These public servants are among the most overpaid and protected in Europe and yet they repeatedly opt for the strike weapon as a first, rather than a last resort.
“We are into the peak summer season in Europe and already the French air traffic controllers are engaged in strike action, which will result in 102 Ryanair flights being cancelled on Tuesday, with many others at risk of disruption.”
He added: “The solution to this problem is simple: remove their right to strike in exactly the same way that air traffic controllers in the USA are prevented by law from striking.
“Until then, it is up to the EU Commission and French Government to ensure there are no further cancellations on Wednesday and Thursday as a result of these unwarranted strikes.”
The industrial action strike is due to continue until early on Friday morning. Eurocontrol warned this morning of “very major delays” across the whole of France.