Walkouts among French air traffic controllers have led to thousands of flight cancellations since the start of the year. The French civil aviation authority DGAC has asked airlines to limit the number of flights on and off for weeks at Paris Orly and some other airports, at a time when the nation is being roiled by strikes over an unpopular pension reform.
Labour action by air traffic controllers not only affects flights to and from France but also leads to turmoil elsewhere in Europe, causing delays for planes that fly over the country to reach other destinations.
Ryanair Holdings Plc, Europe’s biggest low-cost airline, has gone so far as to ask passengers to sign an online petition urging European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to “keep EU skies open” amid the walkouts. Twenty-five days of strikes among French air traffic controllers in the first three months of the year forced it to cancel 3,080 flights, leaving more than half a million passengers stranded with short notice, the carrier said.
Read more in an article from the American Journal of Transportation.