French national strike triggers ATC disruption
aTP- Arab tourism portal News- Irish low-cost carrier Ryanair has canceled nearly 100 flights in response to a two-day French national strike, which could include the country’s air traffic controllers.
According to Eurocontrol, France’s main air traffic control union USAC CGT is planning to support a national call for strike Sept. 15.
“The strike started on Wednesday, at 1700 UTC and will end at 0400 UTC on Friday, Sept. 16,” Eurocontrol said, adding the action could affect all French area control centers and airports.
Eurocontrol warned of possible disruption and said there is a risk of minimum service in some regions.
Ryanair is canceling 22 flights on the evening of Sept. 14 and 72 flights on Sept. 15 in response to the walkout. It added that further delays are likely.
“It’s reprehensible that Europe’s consumers repeatedly have their holiday and travel plans disrupted or canceled by the selfish actions of ATC unions, who use strikes as a first weapon rather than a last resort. This French ATC strike will impact hundreds of thousands of European consumers and throw their travel plans into chaos once more. It’s high time that the European Commission takes action to prevent these repeated ATC strikes from continuously disrupting the travel plans of millions of Europe’s citizens and their families,” Ryanair said, adding this is the 14th French ATC strike this year.
Source: http://atwonline.com/air
