Others have suffered significant delays, of the order of 45 minutes for each trip over French territory, according to the traffic monitoring body Eurocontrol.
More than 2,400 air routes were canceled last Friday in Europe due to the strike of French air traffic controllers, according to a report published on Monday by the traffic monitoring body Eurocontrol, and while a new strike is looming at the end of the month. “More than 2400 flights have been canceled“during this social movement, while others suffered significant delays, of the order of 45 minutes for each trip over French territory, said the director general of Eurocontrol Eamonn Brennan, in a summary on his account Twitter.
According to the organization, 28,967 flights took place last Friday, against 31,450 the day before. Over the week as a whole, the daily average was 29,438 flights per day, a drop of 2.2% compared to the previous week, again a consequence of the strike.
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The social movement was launched by the National Union of Air Traffic Controllers (SNCTA, majority) to demand salary increases in the face of inflation, but also an acceleration of recruitment. The French Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGAC) had asked the companies to give up half of their flight program for Friday, i.e. “about 1000 flights canceled» when departing from or arriving in France.
New strike from September 28 to 30
Ryanair, the first air carrier of the Old Continent, had mentioned the cancellation of 420 flights “mainly flying over France“, without necessarily landing there, and denounced a movement “unjustified».
The SNCTA, which announced a new strike from September 28 to 30 inclusive, is concerned “the current level of inflation as well as future recruitments“. The union wants to take advantage of this notice period “to negotiate“, According to a press release released on Saturday. These professionals are particularly alarmed by the planned retirement of a third of air navigation control engineers (ICNA) between 2029 and 2035.
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Or, «at least five years separate recruitment from qualification» and the training capacities are «structurally limited“. It is therefore necessary, according to them, to anticipate this “departure wall” as of next year and budget for training in this direction, but “after six months of negotiations to prepare this finance law [2023]the SNCTA still has no concrete elements or guaranteesresponding to his demands.