PARIS (AFP) – Around 1,000 flights to and from France were cancelled Friday as the country’s air traffic controllers went on strike, causing delays across European airspace.
France’s DGAC civil aviation authority said 16 airports were operating a skeleton service, as were traffic control centers guiding planes overflying French territory at high altitude.
But several regional airports were closed and the DGAC warned of “cancellations and significant delays across the country”.
European air traffic body Eurocontrol said it was seeing “significant disruption”, with delays totaling over 500,000 minutes by 8:30 am (0630 GMT).
That was more than three times the level across the whole of last Friday when air traffic was moving normally.
Around 21,000 planes are expected to pass through Eurocontrol airspace on Friday, down by around one third.
Air France dropped around half its 800 planned services Friday, while Europe’s largest airline Ryanair said it had cancelled 420 flights.
The DGAC said it was working with Eurocontrol to divert planes around French airspace.
The SNCTA air traffic controllers’ union said its members are concerned that pay is not keeping up with soaring inflation.
It also warns that recruitment is falling short, risking gaps in the profession’s ranks when large numbers of existing workers retire from the end of this decade.
The union said it had filed notice of a further strike on September 28-30.
“It is inexcusable that passengers who are not even flying to or from France are disrupted,” said Neal McMahon, Ryanair operations director. Ryanair cancelled 420 flights.
“It is time that the EU (European Union) step in and protect overflights so that European passengers are not repeatedly held to ransom by a tiny French ATC union,” McMahon added.