Thousands of airline passengers will have their travel plans impacted by a French air traffic control strike on Friday. The country's aviation authorities said it was working with the European air travel body Eurocontrol to help airlines avoid the worst of the problems.
However, Ryanair has been forced to ground 420 flights, many scheduled to fly through French airspace, affecting 80,000 passengers. More than 75 services have been cancelled by easyJet, while British Airways has axed 22 routes.
Air France said it would only run 45 per cent of its short-haul flights. The walkout is being staged by the SNCTA air traffic control union in a dispute over wages and recruitment.
Routes which overfly France will be disrupted yet domestic French services are protected by law.
Ryanair operations director Neal McMahon said: “It is inexplicable that thousands of European citizens/visitors will have their travel plans unfairly disrupted on Friday by yet another French ATC strike. Ryanair is once again calling for immediate EU action to prevent these ATC strikes disrupting the travel plans of thousands of European citizens/visitors.
"It is inexcusable that passengers who are not even flying to/from France are disrupted because they overfly French airspace at a time when French laws protect French domestic flights. It is time that the EU step in and protect overflights so that European passengers are not repeatedly held to ransom by a tiny French ATC union.”
Low-cost airline easyJet said it had axed services following requests from the French authorities. The carrier stated: "While this is outside of our control, we would like to apologise to our customers for any inconvenience they may experience."
Meanwhile, 15 per cent of Heathrow Airport's schedule will be altered during Queen Elizabeth's state funeral on Monday to ensure the skies over London are quiet during the event. British Airways has cancelled 100 flights while Virgin Atlantic has grounded four transatlantic services.
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