The huge strike of French air traffic administrators destroyed summer travel plans for nearly 300,000 people. More than 1,500 flights were canceled 3 – 4 July throughout Europe during the holiday season “Grand Départ”. The main airlines such as Ryanair scored 170 flights (affecting 30,000 passengers), while EasyJet Cut 274 flights, says the BBC.
Paris Airport faced less years on Thursday and even less on Friday, while Nice lost almost half of the flights in southern France. Even flights that did not land in France were disrupted if they went through French airspace, which influenced routes such as the United Kingdom to Spain or Ireland to Greece, according to Euronews.
“The airlines for Europe (A4E) strongly condemn the French air traffic control strike (ATC), which takes place today and tomorrow,” the European Lobby company said in a statement.
“Tens of thousands of travelers in France and throughout Europe saw their summer escape ground, when the French controls for air traffic were released during a large department; one of the busiest periods for summer travel,” the statement continued.
The controllers require repairs to a broken system
Why did the drivers go out? Trade unions say that the French air traffic system is insufficient, uses outdated technology and suffers from “toxic management”.
One of the departments explained that their instruments are “on their last legs”, forcing redesigned employees to manage more flights with equipment failure, according to Reuters. Transport Minister Philippe Tabarot described the timing of the strike as “unacceptable”, but inspectors claim that they warned months of dangerous conditions.
This disruption will persist outside the strike. The delay was accumulated on Thursday, flights to a nice run 90 minutes late. Travelers should:
Ryanair’s CEO fired a strike for “holding families for ransom” and urged the EU to protect excessive flights during the national strikes. With the European sky busier than ever (38,000 daily flights), experts warn summer chaos without great reforms.
(Tagstotranslate) French strike ATC
