French air strike promises travel chaos

Thursday, 23rd September 2010

A strike over pensions for public sector workers in France threatens travel chaos for tens of thousands of air passengers. The walkout by air controllers in France could see the cancellation of some 400 flights between the UK and France. As a result of the industrial action, there could be delays for flights to other destinations.

As much of the airspace over France will be unavailable because of the strike, many airlines will be forced to divert their flights. This will have a knock-on effect, causing congestion for other routes throughout the European continent. The travel problems look set to be much worse than that seen during the huge street protests in France two weeks ago.

Ryanair has had no choice but to cancel more than 200 of its flights. Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary was furious and lashed out at France’s air-traffic controllers. He complained that the European government keep pressuring airlines about the rights of passengers when flights are delayed, despite the fact that most of the flight delays this year were caused by poorly-managed air-traffic services in Europe.

EasyJet warned passengers of the likelihood of major disruption. It said the strike would cause problems for its flights to destinations in France but it hoped to be able to continue to operate as many flights as possible. Both easyJet and British Airways are advising passengers to check with the airlines to confirm their flights are running before they travel to the airport.

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