– More than 1,000 Swiss passengers affected by flight cancellations this Thursday
The Swiss company indicates that ten flights are affected by the Strike by French air traffic controllers this Thursday. EasyJet flights are also affected.
Published today at 1:25 p.m.
Due to a strike by some French air traffic controllers, several connections with Switzerland were canceled.
KEYSTONE/Gaetan Bally
French airports were emptied of some of their usual passengers on Thursday and hundreds of planes remained grounded, due to a strike by some French air traffic controllers, once again outraged the airlines. Several connections with Switzerland have been canceled.
Flight cancellations primarily concern short- and medium-haul flights. At Roissy Charles-de-Gaulle, many passengers navigate the terminals for their international flights, making us forget the thousands of passengers forced to stay at home and reschedule their flights, in the middle of French school holidays.
For Switzerland, ten flights of the Swiss company are affected by this strike. Some 1,100 passengers are affected by these cancellations, Swiss told Keystone-ATS. EasyJet also announced on Wednesday morning the cancellation of flights: a dozen departures from Geneva and as many arrivals from various French regional airports.
Some 2,300 flights departing from or arriving at a French airport are planned for the day, compared to nearly 5,200 the day before, according to the dashboard of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGAC) consulted by AFP .
In Europe, more than 2,000 flights have been canceled and 1,000 risk having to divert to avoid French airspace, according to the main association of airlines in the Old Continent, Airlines for Europe.
Long-hauls spared
To bring available staff and traffic into line, French civil aviation had asked companies to cancel three out of four flights departing from or arriving at Paris-Orly, the second French airport; 55% in Roissy-Charles-de-Gaulle, the first, 65% in Marseille-Provence and 45% on all other platforms in mainland France.
Most long-haul connections, however, escape cancellations, the DGAC’s request only applying to planes making “three or more movements” during the day.
Unions not in unison
These cancellations, on an unprecedented scale “for around twenty years” according to the boss of Parisian airports Augustin de Romanet, were imposed by the DGAC in view of the number of strikers declared among the essential air traffic controllers.
However, the announcement on Wednesday morning of an agreement to end the crisis by the main union, the SNCTA, had given rise to hope for a reduction in the constraints weighing on airlines. Too late to avoid disruptions, especially since the three other air traffic controllers unions, Unsa-ICNA, Usac-CGT and Spac-CFDT have maintained their notice.
The SNCTA, which gathered 60% of the votes of air traffic controllers in the last elections, protested against the accompanying measures of this reform, in particular salaries, and demanded, among other things, a 25% increase in remuneration spread over five years.
This French social movement has consequences on flights flying over French territory, with the activity of five air navigation en route centers (CRNA), which manage the trajectories of aircraft flying over the territory, also being affected.
ATS
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