PARIS (Al Jazeera/Reuters) – Flights from Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris and other French airports have faced disruptions as airport workers hold a strike and protests to demand salary hikes to keep up with inflation.
Friday’s labor action is the latest trouble to hit global airports over the last few weeks, as travel resurges after two years of coronavirus restrictions.
French airports have been largely spared the chaos seen recently in London, Amsterdam and some other European and U.S. cities.
But on Friday, striking workers sought to call attention to the pain of inflation with a walkout on the first big day of France’s domestic holiday travel season.
France’s civil aviation authority said 17 percent of scheduled flights out of Charles de Gaulle and Orly airports in Paris were cancelled on Friday morning, primarily short-haul routes.
Queues built up inside the terminals as some passengers sought to make alternative arrangements and others arrived early fearing disruption.
“We’ve been here since three o’clock this morning and we’re still waiting. This is not going well at all,” Philippine Tournier, who had booked a flight for Cancun, Mexico, told Reuters.
Meanwhile, gate agent Nadia Gabruch said there were acute staff shortages in Paris.
“We get phone calls every day, even when we’re on vacation, asking us if we want to work,” said Gabruch, who earns 1,800 euros ($1,882) a month after 20 years in the job.
Protests were planned at both airports, and the Paris airports authority warned of potential delays in getting into terminals and at check-in, passport control and security stations.
Unions said the strike could last through Sunday.
Paris airport workers are seeking a raise of six percent raise retroactive to January 1, while management is proposing three percent, according to French media reports.
Airport firefighters at Charles de Gaulle are also on strike with specific salary demands, forcing the airport to close some runways.
The inflation rate has increased in recent months and intensified with the start of the Ukraine war in most European countries, which has led to an increase in fuel and food prices.
According to the European Union’s statistics agency, inflation is at its highest level since record keeping for the euro began in 1997.