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Over 400 flights grounded due to French air traffic control strike

The ongoing strike by French air traffic controllers entered its third day on Wednesday and continued to cause misery for passengers around Europe.

Published: 8 March 2017 10:56 CET

Over 400 flights grounded due to French air traffic control strike

Photo: AFP

According to the DGAC, the French civil aviation authority around 430 flights either to, from or over France, were cancelled on Wednesday.

Among the airlines that had to cancel planes were budget companies Ryanair and EasyJet. Ryanair had to scrap 66 services, including 18 in and out of Paris Beauvais airport and 10 at Marseille while EasyJet had to ground 50 flights for airports all over the country.

A statement from Ryanair read: “Due to a third day of French ATC union strikes, we regret that we have again been forced to cancel a number of flights today (8 Mar). All affected customers have been contacted by email and SMS text message and advised of their flight options and delays are likely, with possible further cancellations.

We again urge all customers to sign the A4E online petition, Keep Europe's Skies Open to help protect Europe from repeated disruption by these ATC unions.”

Another budget airline Vueling had to cancel 22 flights.

A list of many of the cancelled flights can be seen here.

Air France was also hit, in particular its internal services from Orly airport in Paris and domestic airports.

All of Air France’s long haul flights should run as scheduled.

Airports across the country are badly affected including Brest, Bordeaux, Marseille, Nice and Aix-en-Provence.

Passengers whose flights have been spared the raft of cancellations have been warned that they face delays.

The strike which is being held by the Unsa union due to staff grievances over working conditions and hours will run until Friday March 10th.

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German train strike wave to end following new labour agreement

“The German Train Drivers’ Union (GDL) and Deutsche Bahn have reached a wage agreement,” GDL said in a statement.

Further details will be announced in a press conference on Tuesday, the union said. A spokesman for Deutsche Bahn also confirmed that an agreement had been reached.

Train drivers have walked out six times since November, causing disruption for huge numbers of passengers.

The strikes have often lasted for several days and have also caused disruption to freight traffic, with the most recent walkout in mid-March.

In late January, rail traffic was paralysed for five days on the national network in one of the longest strikes in Deutsche Bahn’s history.

READ ALSO: Why are German train drivers launching more strike action?

Europe’s largest economy has faced industrial action for months as workers and management across multiple sectors wrestle over terms amid high inflation and weak business activity.

The strikes have exacerbated an already gloomy economic picture, with the German economy shrinking 0.3 percent across the whole of last year.

What we know about the new offer so far

Through the new agreement, there will be optional reduction of a work week to 36 hours at the start of 2027, 35.5 hours from 2028 and then 35 hours from 2029. For the last three stages, employees must notify their employer themselves if they wish to take advantage of the reduction steps.

However, they can also opt to work the same or more hours – up to 40 hours per week are possible in under the new “optional model”.

“One thing is clear: if you work more, you get more money,” said Deutsche Bahn spokesperson Martin Seiler. Accordingly, employees will receive 2.7 percent more pay for each additional or unchanged working hour.

According to Deutsche Bahn, other parts of the agreement included a pay increase of €420 per month in two stages, a tax and duty-free inflation adjustment bonus of €2,850 and a term of 26 months.

Growing pressure

Last year’s walkouts cost Deutsche Bahn some €200 million, according to estimates by the operator, which overall recorded a net loss for 2023 of €2.35 billion.

Germany has historically been among the countries in Europe where workers went on strike the least.

But since the end of 2022, the country has seen growing labour unrest, while real wages have fallen by four percent since the start of the war in Ukraine.

German airline Lufthansa is also locked in wage disputes with ground staff and cabin crew.

Several strikes have severely disrupted the group’s business in recent weeks and will weigh on first-quarter results, according to the group’s management.

Airport security staff have also staged several walkouts since January.

Some politicians have called for Germany to put in place rules to restrict critical infrastructure like rail transport from industrial action.

But Chancellor Olaf Scholz has rejected the calls, arguing that “the right to strike is written in the constitution… and that is a democratic right for which unions and workers have fought”.

The strikes have piled growing pressure on the coalition government between Scholz’s Social Democrats, the Greens and the pro-business FDP, which has scored dismally in recent opinion polls.

The far-right AfD has been enjoying a boost in popularity amid the unrest with elections in three key former East German states due to take place later this year.

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