Air traffic controller strikes: exasperation mounts

Air traffic will once again be penalized by the strike against the pension reform on Tuesday. A third of flights will be canceled at Orly. A fifth in Lyon, Marseille, Nice, Bordeaux and Nantes. A usual situation since the beginning of the year: there have been forty days when air traffic control has not functioned normally because of strike calls.

Given the central geographical position of France, these strikes have cascading effects on all European air traffic. The Old Continent air traffic monitoring body, Eurocontrol, has taken stock: 10 million passengers were affected by these social movements between March and early April.

To remedy this situation, the centrist senator, Vincent Capo-Canellas, has tabled a bill which aims to oblige air traffic controllers to declare 48 hours in advance if they will be on strike. Today, for lack of this information, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGAC) “cuts down” as a precaution a large number of flights the day before or the day before the social movement.

Examined by the regional planning commission on Wednesday, this text will be debated in session in the Senate on June 15. The government has not said whether it will support him.

Companies will follow his path. “These strikes are causing extreme exasperation for the airlines. They force them to go through other countries to avoid French airspace, “said Willie Walsh, director general of Iata, which federates air carriers, on Monday.

Ryanair has launched a petition to ask the European Union to secure overflights of French territory in the event of strikes. This text has obtained more than 1.1 million signatures.