Pensions: disruption of French air traffic until at least next Wednesday

This is one of the sectors where the mobilization of protest against the pension reform is unabated. Up to a third of flights have been canceled at Paris-Orly Airport, and several regional airports have been hit, with flights remaining disrupted until at least Wednesday due to air traffic controllers strike against pension reform.

Since the beginning of the social movement, the General Directorate of Civil Aviation (DGAC) has regularly been forced to ask airlines to cancel part of their program of flights departing from and arriving at certain airports in order to adapt to the number of air traffic controllers. at his post and avoid more turmoil.

Such preventive cuts, in place for most of this week, will continue through the weekend and at least until next Wednesday, including a new day of national interprofessional mobilization scheduled for Tuesday by the interunion.

On Saturday, the DGAC demanded the cancellation of 15% of flights to Orly, France’s second largest airport by passenger traffic, and 20% of flights to Marseille-Provence, Bordeaux-Merignac and Lyon-Saint-Exupéry. Sunday promises to be more difficult for passengers transiting Orly, where 33% of flights will be canceled, while in Lyon and Marseille this share will remain at 20%.

“For the first time since the beginning of social movements related to pension reform”, it is about connections with Corsica, known as “public service lines” in the name of territorial continuity, Air Corsica expressed regret, forced to cancel three connections. to Beauty Island on Sunday. In Marseille, companies will also have to cancel 20% of their program on Monday, as in Paris-Orly on the same day. On Tuesday and Wednesday, 20% of flights will operate to Orly, Marseille, Toulouse and Bordeaux, DGAC said on Friday evening.

Significant delays in the start of the weekend

In response, Air France said it would be able to operate “nearly 8 out of 10 flights between Paris-Orly and select French airports” from Friday to Monday. Neither long-haul flights, nor those departing or arriving in Paris-Charles de Gaulle, will be affected, according to the company, which had not yet announced on Tuesday and Wednesday.

However, he warned that “last-minute delays and cancellations cannot be ruled out” and stressed that his customers “affected by flight cancellations are being notified individually.” Its subsidiary, low-cost carrier Transavia, which specializes in short- and medium-haul flights, for its part, canceled a total of almost 60 flights from Friday to Saturday. Forecast for the coming days has not yet been published.

In addition to airports, air traffic controller shutdowns also affect en-route air navigation (CRNA) centres, which operate aircraft outside the take-off and landing phases and which transit through French airspace. Thus, they affect all European transport.

On Friday evening, at the start of weekend departures, many French airports experienced significant delays: two hours from Toulouse, 1 hour 20 minutes from Lyon and the same amount upon arrival in Marseille, according to the DGAC’s online control panel.

“Significant delays” exceeding 45 minutes also affect aircraft transiting through areas covered by the CRNAs of Brest and Marseille, Eurocontrol, the pan-European air traffic control body, said for its part.