A day-long strike at French air traffic control has been announced for Friday, September 16, 2022. The DGAC has already asked the airlines to cancel at least every second flight.

The agency expects a high turnout in the work stoppages called for by the SNCTA union. There will be “flight cancellations and significant delays across the board”. Not only traffic within France or from/to France is affected, but also overflights are only possible to a very limited extent.

This can also affect flight connections, which at first glance could have nothing to do with France. This can be the case, for example, between Germany and Spain, because the planes – with a few exceptions – have to use the airspace controlled by French air traffic control. However, due to the strike measures, this is only available to a very limited extent. Due to machine rotations, flights that do not fly via France at all can subsequently be delayed or cancelled.

Travelers with flight tickets for Friday, September 16, 2022 should therefore regularly check the current status of their booking. Transavia France, Volotea, Easyjet, Ryanair, Air France, Vueling and numerous other providers are particularly hard hit by the pilots' strike.

Ryanair calls on the EU Commission to act

In a statement sent to the media on Thursday, the low-cost airline Ryanair strongly criticized the pilots' strike in France. The EU Commission is being asked to take measures to ensure the usability of French airspace. For example, it is suggested that the air traffic control systems of other countries should temporarily take over in order to be able to at least ensure overflights.

According to its own statements, Ryanair had to cancel 420 flights on Friday due to the ATC strike. About 80.000 travelers are said to be affected. At the same time, one criticizes that domestic traffic is only marginally affected: “It is inexplicable that flights overflying France are disrupted by French air traffic control strikes, while French domestic flights are protected by laws on minimum services. The European Union must intervene and protect overflights so that passengers traveling between Spain, Italy, Ireland, Germany etc. are not affected simply because they are flying over France while French air traffic control unions are on strike”.

Furthermore, Neal McMahon, Director of Operations, said: “It is inexplicable that the travel plans of thousands of European residents/visitors will be unfairly disrupted tomorrow (Friday 16 September) by another French air traffic control strike. Ryanair is again calling for immediate EU action to prevent these air traffic control strikes disrupting the travel plans of thousands of European residents/visitors. It is inexcusable that passengers who do not even fly to/from France are being affected because they are flying over French airspace despite French laws protecting French domestic flights. It's time for the EU to step in and protect overflights so European air passengers aren't repeatedly blackmailed by a tiny French air traffic control union."