Index – Abroad – Despite the agreement, air traffic controllers are turning French air traffic upside down

Three quarters of flights departing from or arriving at Paris-Orly Airport, France’s second largest airport, have been canceled in advance by the airlines, 55 percent of planes at Roissy-Charles-de-Gaulle Airport, France’s largest airport, do not take off, 65 percent at Marseille-Provence Airport in the south, while 45 percent of flights were canceled at other major French airports.

More than 2,000 flights in Europe were canceled on Thursday and 1,000 were rerouted presumably to avoid French airspace, according to the main union of European airlines, due to an earlier strike call by SNCTA, the main union of French air traffic controllers.

The airline Ryanair, whose management regularly condemns French strikes, canceled more than three hundred flights on Thursday, while the low-cost airline Transavia, which belongs to the Air France-KLM group, will not start 198 flights.

The International Air Transport Association (IATA), which brings together more than three hundred airlines, has accused French air traffic controllers of extortion, whose demands the organization says are “excessive”.

In negotiations on the transformation of air traffic management, the main union of the profession, SNCTA, and the French civil aviation authority (DGAC) only reached an agreement on Wednesday, at the last moment, too late for the airlines, which have already started canceling some of their flights due to the strike call, he writes the MTI.

Despite the lifting of the work stoppage call, the late conclusion of negotiations with SNCTA and the need to complete negotiations with other unions will not allow us to avoid disruptions on Thursday

– announced the the French Civil Aviation Authorityand asked passengers who can afford to postpone their trips and contact their airlines.

An agreement was reached

“An agreement has been reached and SNCTA is lifting the call,” the union previously announced in a short message posted on its website.

All of this despite the fact that he made a commitment last September that there would be no strike for reasons of wage increases before the Paris Olympics, which begin in three months.

Patrice Vergriete, the French transport minister, said an agreement had been reached that was “beneficial for everyone”. “Thanks to the reform, passengers will experience greater security and fewer delays,” the minister told AFP, but did not give details of the agreement. SNCTA demanded a 25 percent wage increase over the next five years. Two other representative unions of air traffic controllers, Unsa Icna and Usac-CGT, did not issue a statement on the negotiations. “We are very optimistic that we can conclude an agreement with them as well,” said the minister.

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