Ryanair and easyJet have both issued urgent warning to holidaymakers heading to Europe this week, after disruption through an air traffic control strike in France.
easyJet has warned that those travelling south to France may face 'delays and cancellations' while budget airline Ryanair has cancelled a number of flights, as workers carry out industrial action.
The action itself is scheduled to start this afternoon (6 February) and run until Wednesday.
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The Express reports that an easyJet spokesperson said: “We have been advised of a French air traffic control strike starting on Monday at 5pm February 6, through to 6am Wednesday February 8. Like all airlines, our flights to and from France, as well as those flying in French airspace, could be affected.
“Also flights that do not operate through France may still be affected as 65 percent of easyJet flights operate through French airspace and may be delayed before arriving for your flight. We expect that there could possibly be delays and cancellations due to the industrial action, therefore we advise all customers to check the status of their flight on our flight tracker either on our mobile app or website.
"Although this situation is outside of our control, we would like to apologise to any affected passengers for the inconvenience caused.”
It said that as many as 65 percent of easyJet's flights could be affected, as they operate through French air space.
Elsewhere, Ryanair has completely cancelled a number of flights to France in wake of the disruption. The airline called for the European Commission to intervene to allow aircraft to fly over France without disruption.
Ryanair operations director, Neal McMahon, said: “We have had to cancel a small number of our 2,500 daily flights as a result of yet another pointless French Air Traffic Control strike, the third already this year. It is inexplicable that French air traffic control can once again hold European passengers and visitors to ransom.
“Even passengers who are not flying to/from France are impacted because they overfly French airspace at a time when French laws protect French domestic flights. The European Commission must step in and to preserve the free movement of people by protecting overflights from these needless strikes.
“Protecting overflights, as done in Italy and Greece is the simplest and most effective solution to avoid unnecessary mass disruption and must be implemented to protect passengers.”
This means that passengers travelling to other European destinations could also face disruption this week. British tourists should check the status of their flight before they travel to the airport during the strike.
easyJet said passengers that were directly affected would be contacted by email or text by the airline. Ryanair will also contact affected passengers. People with cancelled flights should contact the airline for their next steps.
Strike action is expected to cause major disruption in France as unions unite across several industries. The British Government warned tourists to avoid demonstrations if possible and to follow the advice of local authorities.
Workers are striking over public sector pension reforms which will raise the minimum retirement age from 62 to 64. Air traffic controllers also walked out in Spain on February 6 with action expected every Monday throughout February.
Jet2 warned that its flights to Spain could be affected although it said it would try to keep 'disruption to a minimum', meanwhile easyJet said it didn’t expect to see disruption to its schedule caused by the Spanish air traffic control strikes.
Only 16 Spanish airports will be impacted by the strikes and a minimum level of service has to be maintained at all times. This means that the impact of air traffic control strikes in Spain is often less dramatic than in other destinations.
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