SHARE
COPY LINK
For members

TRAVEL NEWS

Cancellations and compensation: How French strikes affect European flights

More than 10 million airline passengers were hit by strikes and cancellations due to recent French air traffic control strikes - around half of them on flights that were only passing over France. Here's how this could affect you and your rights to refunds or compensation.

Cancellations and compensation: How French strikes affect European flights
French air traffic controllers are responsible for thousands of 'overflights' each day, as well as those taking off an landing in France. Photo by PASCAL GUYOT / AFP

French strikes don’t just affect France – particularly when it comes to air travel.

As a cursory glance at the map will show you, France is geographically pretty central to Europe, so many flights within the continent pass over French airspace – in fact roughly half of the flights in French airspace are only passing through, known as ‘overflights’.

French air traffic controllers can be a fairly militant lot – and if they are on strike your flight could be affected even if you’re not going to or from France.

European air traffic control body Eurocontrol recently published research examining the impact of French strikes over the past month – air traffic controllers have been taking part in long-running strikes in protest at president Emmanuel Macron’s controversial pension reform.

The data shows that between March 1st and April 9th, more than 10 million passengers were hit with either delays or cancellations as a result of strikes, with an average of 64,000 passengers a day impacted.

On an average day, 3,300 flights take off or land in France (of which 800 are domestic flights) and 3,700 pass through French airspace – and are therefore affected if French air traffic controllers go on strike. 

Air traffic controllers are required to give notice if they intend to strike, the French Direction Générale de l’aviation civile (DGAC) then calculates how many workers will be on strike and orders airline to cancel a certain percentage of their flights. It is up to airlines which flights they cancel, and most prioritise long-haul flights and cancel the short-haul ones in order to try and minimise disruption to passengers. 

In a recent petition to the EU to change the rules on minimum strike cover, the Irish budget airline Ryanair claims that disruption disproportionately falls on overflights, saying: “It is unacceptable that France uses Minimum Service Legislation to protect French fights during these repeated ATC strikes, while overflights, none of which are operating to/from France, suffer all these cancellations.”

However data from Eurocontrol doesn’t suggest a disproportionate effect on overflights, with the March 1st to April 9th data showing that 14 percent of flights that took off or landed in France (including domestic flights) were impacted by strikes while 16 percent of overflights were affected. 

Eurocontrol added, however, that their data on strike-related flight cancellations does not include flights cancelled more than three days in advance of the scheduled departure.

There are also knock-on effects – such as planes ending up in the wrong place due to cancellations – that can force airlines to delay or cancel flights even once industrial action is ended. 

Who is worst affected?

As you would expect, the country most affected by the industrial action was France, with 30 percent of flights delayed during the report period and daily cancellations up 158 percent on a normal day.

Neighbouring Spain saw 15 percent of its departures delayed, the vast majority of which were overflights, and cancellations rise by 63 percent, while the UK, Italy and Germany saw between 6 and 8 percent of departures disrupted, again, mostly overflights.

Graphic: Eurocontrol’s report on flight disruption between March 1st and April 9th, 2023

What does Ryanair want?

In terms of numbers of delayed flights, Ryanair suffered the worst disruption during this one-month period that the report covers, with 332 departures delayed due to French strikes, representing 13 percent of its total flights. French airline Air France suffered the highest percentage of delays with 31 percent of departures delayed, or 277 flights. 

Graphic from Eurocontrol’s report into the impact of French air traffic control strikes between March 1st and April 9th, 2023

Ryanair has now launched a petition to the EU to change the rules on air traffic control flights, saying that in the whole of 2023 it has been forced to cancel 3,350 flights due to strikes, the majority of which were overflights – if you’re a Ryanair customer, you might have already received a message asking you to sign it.

In France, strikes over pension reform began on January 19th and have continued sporadically since, with 12 one-day strikes that have seen high levels of disruption and further ongoing actions from single unions like air traffic controllers. 

The budget airline believes that flight cancellations discriminate against overflights and is calling on European Commission president Ursula Von der Leyen to change the rules, forcing France to apply Minimum Service rules to overflights as well as French departures/arrivals and to allow European air traffic controllers to operate in French airspace if there is a strike.

“People can understand if you’re travelling to France and there is a strike, ‘fine, I could be impacted,’” Neal McMahon, the airline’s director of operations, told reporters.

“But somebody going from Valencia to Milan won’t be able to understand that it was delayed or potentially cancelled because the French are on strike. It’s impossible for consumers to understand that and it’s not fair,” he added.

What are my rights to a refund?

Even if the EU does agree to Ryanair’s proposals, which is far from certain, it will take time to implement, so for the moment at least overflights are likely to continue to be affected by French strikes.

So if you are affected by a delay or cancellation to an overflight, what are your rights to a refund?

In terms of compensation, it makes little different whether your flight is to/from France or simply over it, as EU compensation rules apply to all flights that either arrive at or depart from an airport in the EU/Schengen zone, or are operated by an EU-registered carrier.

Find full details on your rights and how to claim refunds HERE.

You can check the latest on French strike action at The Local France’s strike section HERE.

Member comments

Log in here to leave a comment.
Become a Member to leave a comment.
For members

TRAVEL NEWS

Which flights will be affected by Spain’s airport strikes over Easter?

If you've got a flight booked to or from Valencia or Madrid-Barajas airport over Easter, industrial action by staff could delay your journey or even lead to it being cancelled.

Which flights will be affected by Spain's airport strikes over Easter?

Airport staff in Valencia and Madrid are going on strike over key Easter dates, meaning that as many as a thousand flights could be delayed or cancelled during one of the busiest travel periods of the year.

Semana Santa celebrations have already been disrupted by rain this year, causing the cancellation of processions across the country, but travel during the busy Easter period is also set to be affected by strike action at two of Spain’s major airports.

At Valencia Manises airport, one of the busiest airports in Spain which welcomed almost 10 million passengers in 2023, flights could be affected over the entire Easter weekend (Thursday March 28th-Monday April 1st inclusive) because workers will walk out between 11am-13am on each day.

At Madrid-Barajas airport, the UGT union has called a strike for Wednesday 27th and Friday 29th March between 7am-12pm.

READ ALSO: Spain’s Valencia set for airport strike over Easter holidays

The walkout at Valencia begins today, March 28th. According to the live departures board provided by Aena, Spain’s national airport operator, which you can follow here, as of 9.30am flights are leaving the airport with minor delays of up to 40 minutes, though this is before the strike officially begins at 11am.

Aena live departures for Madrid-Barajas show that some flights have left with delays of up to 45 minutes this morning, though it is worth noting that staff are not officially on strike there today (walkouts in Madrid are Wednesday 27th and Friday 29th March between 7am-12pm) which could suggest a knock-on effect from yesterday’s strike action.

The industrial action comes during not only during Easter celebrations but operación salida, an intensely busy travel period during which millions of Spaniards travel home or go on holiday for Semana Santa.

READ ALSO: Strike action at Spanish airports set to disrupt Easter travel

Staff at Madrid-Barajas are striking for better pay and a new collective bargaining agreement, arguing their salaries have declined in real terms due to inflation, and employees at Valencia Manises are protesting against long working hours and a lack of staff, plus a dispute with regards to overtime pay.

Spanish media reports suggest that up to 1000 flights could be cancelled as a result of the walkouts. On Wednesday 27th, there was also ‘chaos’ at Palma de Mallorca airport, according to Spanish media, with long queues at security controls meaning it took many passengers an hour to get to their departure gate.

Which flights will be affected by Spain’s airport strikes over Easter?

Knowing exactly which flights could be affected, however, isn’t entirely clear. There seems to be certain airlines and routes more likely to be affected than others.

Madrid-Barajas

It is still unclear exactly which flights could be affected at Madrid-Barajas, so it is advisable to check with your airline. You can check the airport schedule on the Aena website here.

On Wednesday 27th March, the day the strike began in Madrid, both short and long-haul flights were delayed or cancelled.

Departure records from Flight Stats show that long-haul flights to the United States were cancelled throughout the day, and short-haul flights around Europe and to other Spanish cities were running with delays of up to 2 hours. Many also arrived on schedule, however.

Valencia Manises

As the strike action begins in Valencia on Thursday morning, reports suggest that several dozen flights could be cancelled, delayed or rescheduled. If you are uncertain about your flight, check with your airline.

On Thursday 28th, flights that could be affected by the stoppage include:

  • Ryanair flights connecting Valencia with Rome, Milan Bologna, Breslavia and Sofia 
  • United and Lufthansa flights connecting Valencia with Frankfurt and Munich
  • Easyjet and British Airways flights between Valencia and London
  • Turkish Airlines flights between Valencia and Istanbul
  • Air Europa flights between Valencia and Palma de Mallorca
  • Swiss flights connecting Valencia to Zurich
  • Volotea flights between Valencia and A Coruña
  • Eurowings’ Valencia-Stuttgart flights

On Friday 29th, flights that could be cancelled are:

  • Ryanair to Milan, Treviso, Trieste, Dublin, Marrakech and Palma de Mallorca
  • SAP and Tap Portugal flights between Valencia and Lisbon
  • United to Frankfurt
  • Lufthansa to Frankfurt, Munich
  • Austrian to Vienna
  • Air Nostrum to Ibiza
  • Delta to París Charles de Gaulle
  • Air France to París Charles de Gaulle
  • Air Europa to Palma de Mallorca
  • Easyjet to London
  • British Airways to London
  • Brussels Airlines to Brussels
  • Iberia to Tenerife North
  • Tap Portugal to Lisbon
  • Turkish Airlines to Istanbul
  • Swiss to Zúrich
  • Volotea to A Coruña, San Sebastián
  • Vueling to Tenerife North
  • Eurowings to Stuttgart

There is no further information yet about which flights could be affected on Saturday 30th, Sunday 31st and Monday April 1st.

SHOW COMMENTS