French Air Traffic Controllers Strike Hits Europe Summer Travel

French air traffic controllers launched a two-day strike on Thursday to protest at understaffing and "toxic management", disrupting travel for tens of thousands of people in Europe at the start of a busy summer holiday season.

Hundreds of flights have been cancelled in France, with the strike by two French unions also affecting air traffic across western Europe.

Half of flights in Nice, France's third-largest airport, and a quarter of flights at Paris Orly and Paris Charles de Gaulle, one of Europe's busiest hubs, have been cancelled.

Disruption is expected to worsen on Friday, the eve of the school holidays.

"We're trying to stay positive, there are worse things, but it's annoying," Nadia Rivet, a 51-year-old bank employee, told AFP.

Rivet was planning to spend six days in the French capital but her flight from the southwestern city of Pau on Thursday morning was cancelled.

"Everyone has the right to strike, but it's punitive. Air traffic controllers aren't the worst off," she said, adding she hoped to have more luck on Friday.

The DGAC civil aviation authority has asked airlines to cancel some of their flights to ensure there are enough controllers on duty.

'Held To Ransom'

Transport Minister Philippe Tabarot called union demands "unacceptable" and said carriers would lose "millions of euros" as a result.

"Constantly choosing dates that will cause the most inconvenience to passengers does not seem to be the right approach," he said on Thursday.

Ryanair, Europe's largest airline, said it cancelled 170 flights, affecting 30,000 passengers.  

"Once again European families are held to ransom by French air traffic controllers going on strike," said Ryanair CEO Michael O'Leary. 

The airline said most disrupted passengers were not flying to or from France but overflying French airspace.

"It makes no sense and is abundantly unfair on EU passengers and families going on holidays," O'Leary said.

He urged European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen to take "urgent action" to protect overflights, among other reforms.

Industry association Airlines for Europe (A4E), whose members include Ryanair, Air France-KLM, Lufthansa, British Airways and EasyJet, described the action as "intolerable".

The strike involved 270 air traffic controllers from a total workforce of around 1,400, sources said.

UNSA-ICNA, the second biggest labour group in the sector, launched the action to demand better working conditions and more staff.

'Striking Is Right'

The union is protesting against "chronic understaffing", the planned introduction of a clock-in system, outdated equipment and "toxic management practices that are incompatible with the requirements of calm and safety". 

It was joined by the third largest union, USAC-CGT.

The main air traffic controllers' union, SNCTA, had no plans to join them.

Airports in the south were particularly hard hit, with 30 percent of flights cancelled in cities including Lyon and Marseille.

Air France said it had been "forced to adapt its flight schedule" without specifying the number of cancellations, but stressed that its long-haul network was not affected.

On Friday, the situation is expected to become even more tense at Paris airports and Beauvais, where the DGAC has ordered a 40-percent reduction in the number of flights.

Business aviation, particularly in Nice and Le Bourget near Paris, has also been significantly affected, sources said.

Some passengers tried to take the disruptions on the chin.

"Striking is a right," said Carol Jelic, a 66-year-old Canadian travelling to Stuttgart. "We can't lose that right. But it does inconvenience," she told AFP at Paris CDG airport.

Eric Nouen, a 60-year-old travelling to Montpellier from French Guiana, a region of France in South America, said he was not going to complain.

"Right now, everyone could go on strike. Everyone has a reason right now."

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