Yzabelle Bostyn
A STRIKE by French air traffic control has caused major delays to flights from the UK to Spain’s tourist hotspots.
The industrial action began at 6pm yesterday, October 12 and will continue until 6am on Saturday, October 14.
The strikes will impact almost every flight coming from the UK to Spain as most routes pass through French airspace.
So far in 2023, there have been 64 days of French air traffic control strikes, 12 times more than last year.
Many unions are demanding improved salaries and gender equity among other social measures.
It comes just a week after strikes at Luton Airport caused chaos for tourists coming to Spain.
Popular airlines including Ryanair and easyJet have warned customers of possible delays and cancellations. Affected customers are advised to reschedule cancelled flights free of charge and to avoid coming to the airport if their flight is cancelled.
Budget airline Ryanair have released a statement saying: “Ryanair calls on EU Commission President, Ursula von der Leyen, to “take urgent action to protect overflights and EU citizens’ freedom of movement during ATC strikes, and calls on passengers to join our call on the EU Commission by signing our ‘Protect Overflights: Keep EU Skies Open’ petition as over 1.8m fed up passengers have already done.
“Ryanair sincerely apologises to affected passengers for any inconvenience as a result of these French ATC strike disruptions, which are beyond Ryanair’s control”.
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