Airlines including EasyJet and Ryanair forced to cancel more than 800 flights due to French air traffic controllers’ strike
Over 800 flights have now been cancelled across Europe for the first two days of the French air traffic control strike, with airlines also noting severe delays and detours of flights.
Staff at control centres at Brest, Bordeaux and Marseilles are holding a five-day walkout, which Airlines For Europe said will result in over 1,000 flights being cancelled.
Read more: 1,000 flights set to be cancelled due to French air traffic control strike
Airlines have been asked to cut their flight offerings by 25 per cent, as services flying over France, including links from the UK, Italy and Spain are also affected. For the second day of the strike, more than 430 cancellations were made, adding to the 400 from the first day of the strike.
Ryanair has cancelled 66 flights for the third day of strike action, while EasyJet has had to cancel 50 flights, two of which are UK touching.
“Due to a third day of French ATC union strikes, we regret that we have again been forced to cancel a number of flights today," Ryanair said in a statement. "All affected customers have been contacted by email and SMS text message and advised of their flight options and delays are likely, with possible further cancellations. We apologise to our customers and advise all those scheduled to fly today to check the status of their flight on the home page of the Ryanair.com website."
“EasyJet is disappointed at this unnecessary strike action causing further disruption for passengers and airlines across Europe," said an EasyJet spokesperson. "As a member of Airlines for Europe (A4E), we are working with other airlines to call on governments and the EU to develop an action plan to minimise the impact of ATC strikes on passengers."
Read more: Over 400 flights cancelled as air traffic control strike enters second day
Monarch, however, said it always plans to run a full programme during a strike "albeit with some delays which are out of our control".
From 2010 to 2016 there have been 217 air traffic control strike days across the EU and the overall impact of strikes has been €12bn (£10.4bn) to the EU economy.