European flights are set to face further disruption later this month with another planned strike by French air traffic control (ATC) workers.
Members of the SNCTA union walked out for 24 hours on Friday (16 September) causing around 1,000 flights to and from France to be cancelled. The strike also affected flights passing through French airspace.
SNCTA is now planning another longer three-day stoppage from 28-30 September unless the dispute over wages and working conditions can be resolved.
The union has urged its members to “stay mobilised” and for the public authorities to provide “concrete” proposals in a bid to end the dispute. SNCTA added that it was willing to “negotiate tirelessly” to reach a settlement before the next planned strike at the end of the month.
Air France was forced to cancel around half of its 800 scheduled flights on Friday after France’s civil aviation body DGAC requested that carriers reduce their planned services from airports in France by 50 per cent.
Irish budget carrier Ryanir was also badly affected with 420 flights cancelled due to the strike by French air traffic controllers.
Ryanair called for “immediate action” to be taken by the EU to prevent strikes by air traffic controllers from impacting so many flights in the future.
Operations director Neal McMahon added: “It is inexcusable that passengers who are not even flying to/from France are disrupted because they overfly French airspace at a time when French laws protect French domestic flights.
“It is time that the EU step in and protect overflights so that European passengers are not repeatedly held to ransom by a tiny French ATC union.”