Source: AFP
Hundreds of flights were canceled at French airports on Thursday, despite the country’s main union of air traffic controllers withdrawing a call for a one-day strike after agreeing on higher wages.
In Paris about 75 percent of flights to Orly and 55 percent to Charles de Gaulle airport will be grounded on Thursday, civil aviation authority DGAC told airlines in a notice seen by AFP on Wednesday.
About 65 percent of services at Marseille airport and 45 percent elsewhere in France will also be cancelled, he added. The impact is expected to be similar to the cancellations expected when the strike was still ongoing.
Earlier Wednesday, the SNCTA union withdrew a strike call, saying it had reached an agreement on higher wages and other measures with the DGAC.
The union’s demands came in response to a planned overhaul of France’s air traffic control systems.
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DGAC said that despite the strike being called off, a last-minute deal with SNCTA and the need to finalize details with smaller unions meant there would still be unrest.
It was unclear whether the two smaller unions that had also backed the strike would follow suit and call off the stoppage.
“Totally unacceptable”
In vague detail, European carriers complained of widespread disruptions to air travel — even for flights that were only scheduled to fly over France.
“While the withdrawal of the strike may provide some relief for some passengers, the last-minute nature means there will still be significant disruption to flights in France and across Europe tomorrow,” said Ourania Georgoutsakou, the airlines chief executive. for Europe (A4E), an industry association.
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![](https://images.yen.com.gh/images/5062a856f5487874.jpg?impolicy=cropped-image&imwidth=256)
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Before the strike, airlines had been forced to cancel more than 2,000 flights, most of which would have landed or departed from France. Another 1,000 flights would have to be diverted from French airspace, A4E said.
German airline Lufthansa and low-cost airline easyJet warned that their passenger flights over French airspace could be affected on Thursday.
“The scale of the disruption this strike action is causing and the impact it is having on our customers is completely unacceptable, particularly for the hundreds of thousands of customers whose flights will not take off or land in France,” said easyJet’s chief executive. , Johan Lundgren. .
Unions had called the strike after an initial breakdown in talks, raising fresh concerns about the risk of action during the Olympics in Paris from late July, when millions of visitors are expected.
Source: AFP