France cancels thousands of flights
Source: Philip Myrtorp, Unsplash
The previous day, two of France's largest airports - Orly and Charles-de-Gaulle - had canceled more than half of their flights. Medium- and short-haul flights, i.e. flights within the EU and to the nearest foreign countries, were hit the hardest.
According to experts, the air traffic controllers' strike has become the biggest in the last 20 years. About 2000 flights were cancelled and another 1000 planes changed their routes to avoid French airspace because of the protests all over Europe. This is to be expected. A flight without the help of air traffic controllers can end in tragedy.
The main demand of the controllers themselves is a salary increase of 25% over 5 years, or 5% per year. The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has already stated that such demands are not feasible and called the controllers "blackmailers".
Meanwhile, ordinary people are suffering from canceled and postponed flights because the strike fell on school holidays. The airlines are offering their customers refunds or rescheduling their reservations to other dates if the situation allows it.
