French air traffic controllers began a nationwide strike on Thursday, July 3 to protest staff shortages and old equipment, causing delays and flight cancellations across airports in France.
According to Reuters, France’s civil aviation agency, DGAC, told airlines to revise schedules due to the strike.
At least two unions, UNSA-ICNA and USAC-CGT, are striking at Paris Charles de Gaulle, Nice Cote d’Azur, Paris Orly, Marseille Provence, Lyon, Beauvais Tille, Toulouse-Blagnac and Nantes Atlantique airports, which are all experiencing delays and cancellations today on Flight Aware.
At least 525 flights have been cancelled across the airports, with a further 638 flights currently delayed at the time of writing, which is early afternoon in France. The strike is expected to continue into Friday, July 4.
Ryanair has canceled around 170 flights already, affecting over 30,000 passengers today and on Friday. Others have done the same. Air France is operating its long-haul flights without too much disruption.
About one in four flights to and from Paris have been cut, along with nearly half of the flights out of Paris on Friday. Airlines are reducing flights at smaller airports by 30 to 50 percent.
“Despite these preventative measures, disturbances and significant delays are to be expected at all French airports,” the DGAC told travelers, encouraging them to change their flights.
Travelers traveling to and from France, or within France, should be checking their communications with their airline to ensure their flight status.
“The DGAC is failing to modernise the tools that are essential to air traffic controllers, even though it continues to promise that all necessary resources are being made available,” UNSA-ICNA said in a statement. “The systems are on their last legs, and the (air traffic control) agency is constantly asking more of its staff to compensate for its difficulties.”
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