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.
Flight cancellations primarily concern short- and medium-haul flights. In 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.
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.
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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 (south) 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.
In Marseille, out of 140 flights initially scheduled for Thursday, 88 were displayed as canceled on the airport website, including several flights to Algeria, Greece or Luxembourg.
Low-cost airlines are the most affected
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.
Low-cost airlines which are increasing their rotations in the European area are the most affected. Ryanair alone canceled “more than 300 flights” on Thursday, easyJet and Transavia 200 each.
Read also | Strong disruptions expected from Thursday in French airports
According to the DGAC, the number of flights planned to fly over France on Thursday is just over 6,000, compared to 9,000 the day before.
In a statement, Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary again lambasted French authorities and urged the European Commission to “take action to protect overflights, which would eliminate more than 90% of these cancellations.”
The International Air Transport Association (Iata), which brings together more than 300 companies capturing 83% of global traffic, has for its part accused French air traffic controllers of “blackmail” with their “exorbitant demands”.
Royal Air Maroc warns its customers
Airlines stressed that their customers had the option to change flights for free or receive a refund.
Without reaching summer levels, French air traffic is buoyant at a time when two of the three major academic areas are still on spring break.
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As a reminder, Royal Air Maroc announced on Wednesday the cancellation of several of its flights scheduled for Thursday to and from France where a strike notice was issued by air traffic controllers.
“Due to the notice of strike by air traffic controllers on April 25 in France, we are forced to cancel flights to and from France,” wrote the Moroccan company on its X page.
“We offer several solutions to our dear Customers affected by these cancellations,” added the carrier while making available to its customers a searchable link on the Internet.
“We invite our Customers whose flights have been canceled not to come to the airport and to contact their initial point of sale or the RAM call center to benefit from the provisions notified on the link above,” warned the same Source.
Challenge (with AFP)
