French air traffic controllers launched a two-day strike on Thursday, July 3rd, to protest 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 all 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.
Ryanair, Europe’s largest airline, said on Thursday it was forced to cancel 170 flights, affecting 30,000 passengers.
Airlines for Europe (A4E), an industry association that includes Ryanair, Air France-KLM, Lufthansa, British Airways, and EasyJet, described the action as “intolerable.”
According to sources, 270 air traffic controllers out of a total workforce of around 1,400 went on strike.
UNSA-ICNA, the second biggest labour group in the sector, launched the action to demand better working conditions and more staff.
