French air traffic controllers’ strike: cancellations and delays in Spain

The French air-traffic controllers strike taking place until Friday caused the cancellation of 14 flights into or out of Spanish airports on Monday, said AENA, Spain’s airports authority.

The strike will affect the air regions of Brest, Bordeaux and Marseilles until 5am on Friday morning, according to a note issued by France’s DGAC civil aviation authority, which will impact on Paris’s Charles de Gaulle and Orly airports, as well as others in the southwest of the country. Routes passing over French airspace will experience delays, said the DGAC.

The French authorities have asked airlines to reduce flights over southern France by 25% this week, and by 33% in the southwest of the country. The strike will particularly affect flights into and out of Spain, Portugal, Italy and North Africa, which may lead to hundreds of flights being cancelled or delayed.

The strike will hit Spain’s Vueling hard, given that 75% of its flights pass over French airspace

Air France has said it intends to maintain all its long-haul flights, 99% of European routes, and more than 80% of internal flights. The strike will hit Spain’s Vueling hard, given that 75% of its flights pass over French airspace.

Vueling has said that it will allow affected passengers to change their flights up to 15 days following their initial departure date or return the price of their ticket in full.

Alain Vidalies, the French secretary of state for transport, has criticized the UNSA-ICNA labor unions that have organized the stoppages. They accuse the DGAC of not respecting a labor agreement signed in 2016 and of failing to study their working time proposals.

English version by Nick Lyne.