France Air Traffic Controllers Strike

A strike by air traffic controllers in France has caused several of cancellations, originally the strike was meant to last for 3 days from Tuesday the 11th June to Thursday the 13th June but its not only going to last for two from the Tuesday to the Wednesday. An estimated 30 to 40% of flights have been cancelled to and from several French airports including Lyon, Nice, Marseille, Toulouse and Bordeaux.

The reason for the strike is that they believe the EUs plans to apply the “Single European Sky” idea will impact their working conditions. The counter argument is however that the US have a single sky scheme and they have the same amount of airspace as the EU just with more traffic and the price is just half the cost of its EU counterpart.

Never the less this strike is effecting several flights with one in two flights being reported cancelled to and from Paris, Lyon, Nice, Marseille, Toulouse and Bordeaux with easyJet alone having to ground and scrap 10 of their daily flights to Toulouse during the strike action. British airways are just urging people who are planning to travel to check their website before they arrive at the airport, Air France have also had to cancel several of their short and medium flights but is yet to specific how many have seen cancellations.

Nice and Marseille have seen the most cancellations with Nice having 70 flights cancelled and Marseille 100, so if you are travelling anywhere in France especially to Nice and Marseille then please check the appropriate website before you arrive at the airport in order to find out if your flight has been cancelled or grounded and what you can do to get your money or tickets back or if you can change the dates of the flight this will depend on airliner and insurance. Its also expected that airports in Hungary, Portugal and Slovakia are expected to join the strike action on Wednesday so take precaution.

Having worked in the car rental industry for over 15 years, he really knows his stuff. Rob heads up our marketing department and as a keen traveller, always has a new location to talk about. Particularly if there is a golf course nearby.