French air traffic disruption prompts Foreign Office warning
James ChappleBrits flying to, via or over France on Thursday (25 April) have been warned they could yet face significant disruption despite French air traffic controllers calling off planned strike action at the 11th hour.
More than 2,000 flights had been at risk of being delayed, disrupted or simply cancelled on Thursday, along with hundreds more scheduled to fly over France, owing to the walkout by members of the country’s SNCTA union, which represents air traffic controllers.
Brussels-based trade body Airlines for Europe (A4E) said hundreds of thousands of passengers due to fly with many of the continent’s largest carriers had been "left in limbo", adding that despite the action being called off, there would still be "significant disruption" to flight operations and for passengers.
"In advance of the strike, airlines had been forced to cancel more than 2,000 flights, the majority of which would have landed or departed from France," said A4E. "Another 1,000 flights would have had to divert away from French airspace causing further delays and disruption."
Ryanair said it had cancelled more than 300 flights, and once again called on the EU Commission to take action to protect overflights, stressing the majority of passengers set to face disruption would not be flying to or from France, but through its airspace such as between the UK and Greece, Spain and Italy.
Such is the scale of the expected disruption, the Foreign Office has updated its travel advice for France. "It is being reported that on Thursday 25 April, flights across France will be disrupted, with many cancelled, following a call for strike action by air traffic control unions," said the FCDO.
"Check your operator’s advice before travelling, including where you are taking connecting flights."
Jet2.com and easyJet are among British carriers to have warned of potential delays and disruption to flights travelling through French airport, with Jet2 pledging to keep disruption to a minimum while advising passengers to brace for "possible longer than normal waits onboard your aircraft to depart".
EasyJet said: "We expect significant disruption across our network and advise customers to check the status of their flight on our flight tracker on our mobile app or website. To provide additional support, our UK customer services lines will be extended until midnight on Wednesday 24 April and Thursday 25 April.
"Although this situation is outside of our control, we would like to reassure customers that we are doing all we can to minimise any disruption to our flights that may occur because of the strike action."
Echoing Ryanair’s stance, easyJet added: "EasyJet has been calling for better protection of passengers during times of French ATC strike action, especially for the hundreds of thousands of customers using the French airspace but whose flights neither depart nor land in France."
James Chapple
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