A strike by French air traffic controllers seeking better working conditions brought chaos at the height of Europe's summer travel season after around 40 per cent of flights to and from Paris were cancelled on Friday.
Disruptions started hitting airports across France on Thursday. These intensified Friday as the national civil aviation authority asked airlines to cancel 40 per cent of flights at Charles de Gaulle, Orly and Beauvais airports serving Paris, half of flights in Nice and 30 per cent of flights in Marseille, Lyon and some other cities.
Despite the preventive cancellations, the authority warned in a statement that "disruptions and long delays are to be expected at all French airports.”
Paris airports' departure boards were showing a long list of flight delays and cancellations for destinations across France, Europe, North Africa and beyond.
Ryanair was among the airlines that announced widespread disruptions, saying in a statement that it had cancelled more than 400 flights affecting 70,000 passengers. The company said the strike affects all its flights over French airspace as well as traffic in and out of French airports, and urged the European Union to reform air traffic rules.
One of the two unions leading the strike, UNSA-ICNA, said in a statement there are not enough employees to handle surging air travel and that inflation is eating away at salaries. The unions are also protesting new reform measures aiming to more tightly monitor their work, prompted by a near-collision at the Bordeaux airport.
Transport Minister Philippe Tabarot called the unions' demands — and their decision to strike just as French schools close for the summer and many families head on vacation — "unacceptable."
Mariano Mignola, from Naples, Italy, travelling with his wife and children, had his flight back from Paris cancelled. “Last night, when we checked in, we realised something was wrong. We went to the airport's website and discovered the sad news," he said. “We came here hoping to find a solution, that the company would provide us with accommodation. But instead, nothing.”
“We have to do everything on our own, but it's impossible” in the midst of holiday departures, Mignola said. "There's nothing available, not even a car to drive back.”
Parisian Patrick Haus had planned to attend a meeting in Nice, in southern France, but his flight was cancelled. "In a way, I stand in solidarity with the strikers. It's important to know that people don't strike for fun,” he said.