Air traffic controllers in France have gone on strike which is causing major disruption to European flights. The strike began late last night and is expected to go on until Thursday. Short and medium haul flights are worst affected with many carriers in the UK suffering severe delays and cancellations for flights routed either into France or through their airspace.
The strike is in protest of plans to merge the 4000 French controllers into a unified European wide system, which they believe will result in job losses.
Meanwhile, air traffic controllers at Barcelona’s El Prat airport have caused travel chaos in Southern Europe by holding a suspected ‘undercover’ strike with over a third of controllers phoning in ‘sick’ on Monday and Tuesday and failing to turn up for work.
Transport Minister Jose Blanco told Cadena Ser radio “In exceptional situations we will employ aerial military controllers to guarantee aviation traffic in our country,” the minister said. “We are obliged to take alternative measures.”
Blanco blamed the latest absenteeism on an “orchestrated campaign” and called for a full investigation into the fact that so many air traffic controllers had “fallen ill overnight”.
Controllers at El Prat airport have promised travellers a “complicated summer” in and out of Barcelona airspace as we reported on Monday.
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