European air travel is due to be thrown into chaos on Friday as French air traffic controllers go on strike.
Thousands of flights due to fly tomorrow have already been cancelled because of the French Air Traffic Control (ATC) industrial action.
France's DGAC aviation authority has asked airlines to halve their flight schedules on Friday so those remaining workers can control the airspace safely.
The cuts affect the whole of France, the DGAC said in a statement, adding that it was currently working with the European air travel regulator Eurocontrol to help airlines avoid the country's air space.
Those due to fly over the country may still find their flights disrupted however.
The Syndicat majoritaire des contrôleurs aériens union, which has organised the industrial action, is pushing for higher wages amid rising inflation and raising concern about future recruitment.
Air France has cancelled 55 per cent of its short and medium-haul flights and 10 per cent of its long-haul flights on Friday.
Easyjet, Transavia, Ryanair and Volotea - which together with Air France operate around 64 per cent of all flights scheduled to depart in France on Friday - will be majorly impacted.
Ryanair bosses said it has already cancelled 420 flights tomorrow, with 80,000 passengers impacted.
The budget Irish airline - which currently has workers in Spain striking and has been accused of poor treatment by its employees in the UK - has taken a strongly anti-strike stance.
"Ryanair regrets that it is forced to cancel 420 flights (disrupting 80,000 passengers) mainly overflying France on Friday as a result of this unjustified French ATC strike, which achieve nothing but disrupt thousands of European citizens/visitors’ weekend travel plans," a statement from the company read.
"It is inexplicable that flights which overfly France are disrupted by French ATC strikes yet domestic French flights are protected by minimum service laws.
"The European Union must step in and protect overflights so that passengers who are travelling between Spain, Italy, Ireland, Germany, etc. are not disrupted just because they fly over France while French ATC unions strike."
Ryanair has called for French ATC unions to be stripped of their rights to strike, and instead resolve disputes by going to an arbitrator.
Removing workers' right to strike would increase the negotiating power of company chiefs and diminish that of workers.
The Syndicat union said in a statement: “Between 2029 and 2035, one third of the (air traffic control) workforce is retiring. It is imperative that we anticipate and plan recruitment.
“If not, the consequences will be inevitable in terms of the public service, working conditions and flexibility.”
