French aviation authorities have required airlines to cancel flights due to a strike by air traffic controllers who belong to UNSA-ICNA and USAC-CGT unions.
The French civil aviation agency asked airlines to reduce flights at Paris’ airports by 25pc on July 3, by 50pc from Nice, Bastia and Calvi and by 30pc from Lyon, Marseille, Montpellier, Ajaccio and Figari. Tomorrow Friday will be worse as 40pc of flights at Charles de Gaulle and Orly are required to be cancelled by airlines. As of 16.00 1,500 flights have been cancelled.
Impacted Dublin flights include:
- Nice FR3954@16.50 & inbound FR3955
- Paris CDG AF1617@09.10 & inbound AF1616
- Nice EI544@011.00 & inbound EI545
- Biarritz FR1982@12.40 & inbound FR1983
- Paris CDG EI526@13.00 & inbound EI527
- Murcia FR54405@17.00 & inbound FR5404
- Beauvais FR1860@£19.35 & inbound FR1861
- Orly TO7909@19.55 & inbound TR7908
The latest strike relates to biometric attendance control measures to be introduced by DGAC. The DGAC recommends implementing biometric badge systems for air traffic controllers to monitor their presence due to safety concerns.
The first French ATC strike or the season has led to the cancellation of 170 Ryanair flights impacting over 30,000 passengers.
Airlines for Europe and Ryanair has called for immediate reforms to EU air traffic control services, as overflights over French airspace are affected even if passengers are not flying to or from France.
Ryanair has been urging passengers to advocate for changes to prevent future disruptions during busy travel periods. Last year, Europe saw 35,000 flights on a busy summer day, this year the industry expects to reach 38,000.
CAE, a Canadian company that specialises in training services, recently forecast that Europe will need 27,000 air traffic controllers over the next decade (out of 71,000 globally).
Minister Philippe Tabarot shared that: “I am resolved to hold firm against the striking unions, their demands as unacceptable.”
Michael O’Leary shared that “it is not acceptable that overflights over French airspace… are being cancelled/delayed. “Once again on Thursday and Friday of this week, over 400 Ryanair flights and more than 70,000 Ryanair passengers and their families will have their travel plans disrupted by a tiny number of French Air Traffic Controllers, engaging in recreational strikes. Over 350 of these are overflights, which could and should be protected by the EU Commission. The bizarre justification for this week’s ATC strike is their objection to “short staffing”. Every year they find something new to strike about. While we recognise their right to strike, Europe’s airlines have repeatedly called on the European Commission to protect overflights. It is unacceptable, that flights which overfly France, and which could operate without disruption, are needlessly cancelled, simply because the European Commission won’t protect overflights, or defend the single market. This is unacceptable.
Ursula von der Leyen and her new Commission claim they have put Europe’s competitiveness at the centre of their economic strategy. Even the Draghi Report last year identified the urgent need for ATC reform, which can be delivered by protecting overflights and ensuring that ATC services are properly staffed. Yet 12 months later, nothing has changed. Ursula von der Leyen hides in her office in Brussels, while thousands of European citizens and their families have their flights and their holidays needlessly disrupted.
If Ursula von der Leyen isn’t willing to deliver competitiveness, isn’t willing to protect the single market, isn’t willing to protect overflights during National ATC strikes, then she should quit and let somebody more effective deliver the urgent ATC reform and the competitiveness, which Europe’s economy and our airlines’ passengers so badly need. The Airline Industry is fed up with Ursula von der Leyen’s failure to deliver ATC reform. If she won’t reform – then she should go!”
Ourania Georgoutsakou, Managing Director of A4E shared: “This strike is intolerable. French ATC already delivers some of Europe’s worst delay figures and now the actions of a minority of French ATC workers will needlessly disrupt the holiday plans of thousands of people in France and across Europe. There is intense discussion about passenger rights in the EU right now, yet policymakers have done little to fix ATC to help them attain the most basic right: reaching your destination on time,
As of 1600 CEST today, over 1500 flights have been cancelled on 3 and 4 of July affecting nearly 300,000 passengers. As well as being responsible for thousands of cancellations, today’s strike is responsible for nearly 500,000 minutes of delay or the same amount of minutes in 365 days or one full year. Airlines have had little notice of the impact of these strikes, resulting in hundreds of last-minute cancellations.
Already in 2025, French ATC has proven to be one of the weakest links in Europe’s ATC system, posting some of Europe’s worst delay records. For example, ATC capacity-related delays in June 2025 jumped 115 percent versus June 2024.”
