French Air Traffic Control Strike Maroons Tens of Thousands of Passengers
Jackie Reddy September 13, 2017
Ryanair is one of the worst affected carriers, but British Airways and Air France are also warning of delays and last-minute disruption.
A strike by French air traffic controllers has resulted in the stranding of over 20,000 Ryanair passengers, the Telegraph reports. The labor action, which began on Tuesday, is part of a national coordinated walk-out against the labor reforms proposed by the country’s president, Emmanuel Macron.
Eurocontrol, the body responsible for the management of air traffic across Europe, has advised of “very high delays” in the skies above the south of France. The low-cost carrier, reports the outlet, has had to cancel at least 110 flights due to the action and its passengers are now struggling to find seats with other airlines.
Ryanair has advised travelers that “further flight delays and cancellations are likely.”
Commenting on the situation, Kenny Jacobs, the carrier’s marketing director, said, “Enough is enough. If the French Government is serious about changing France, they should start by tackling these air traffic control unions, and together with the European Commission, should take immediate action to prevent thousands of European consumers from having their travel plans disrupted by a tiny group of ATC unions going on strike once again.”
“They cannot stand idly by as more disruption and travel misery is inflicted upon Europe’s consumers and airlines,” he added.
British Airways, EasyJet and Air France have all warned of cancellations and delays to services within the region. BA is attempting to mitigate the situation by allowing travelers to move their flights to Wednesday or Thursday and says it will be using larger aircraft to transport those impacted by the strike.
EasyJet has said that it is, “doing everything possible to minimize the impact of the strike on our customers” while Air France had advised passengers of “limited disruptions” on its regional services but added that “last-minute delays and cancellations can be expected too.”
[Photo: Shutterstock]
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Well well. Too bad France doesn't have a President like Ronald Reagan that fired all the air traffic controllers that dared to go on strike (it is illegal in the US for Air Traffic Controllers to go on strike because of the critical nature of the job, they decided to test Reagan's resolve, and they lost), use military air traffic controllers as stop gap, and then watch and laugh as the strikers came back to Reagan and begged their jobs back.