Three rotations to Paris Beauvais from Dublin have been cancelled today as the result of a short-notice strike called by the second largest French union of air traffic controller UNSA-ICNA.
FR22@ 08:40, FR24@12.55 and FR1860@19.35 have been cancelled alongside their return flights FR23, FR25 and FR1861. They are amongst 100 flights to and from Beauvais airport cancelled by the airport’s largest customer, Ryanair.
Ryanair called in a written statement on the EU Commission to protect passengers during French ATC strikes by:
- Protecting French overflights by law during ATC strikes as they do in Greece, Italy and Spain
- Allowing Europe’s other ATCs to manage flights over France while French ATC are on strike
- Mandating that French ATC unions must engage in binding arbitration before calling strikes
Affected passengers have been notified and advised of their options to either move to another flight or to receive a full refund.
Ryanair offers 59 year-round and 15 seasonal routes from Beauvais, with just 18 routes on offer from other airlines.
A further strike notice has been filed for three days June 11-13 by UNSA-ICNA at Orly airport, to which Air Transat and Vuelling fly from Dublin, to demand additional recruitment, claiming it had been ignored and relegated by the French aviation regulator DGAC in comparison with Paris Charles de Gaulle.
UNSA-ICNA previously called for a strike on the weekend of May 25 and 26, resulting in the cancellation of 70pc of flights at Paris-Orly. On April 25, during school holidays, air traffic was significantly disrupted throughout France and by extension in Europe.
UNCA, which has the support of just 17pc of France’s air traffic controllers compared with 60pc for the largest union SNCTA, criticised the signing of a “no strike” agreement between the DGAC and the SNCTA designed to safeguard French airspace until after the Olympics, and agreeing to an overhaul of air traffic control in France.
The agreement was also rejected by the third union USAC-CGT (which represents 16pc of air traffic controllers.
A written statement from Ryanair said: “since 2023, there has been 84 days of French ATC strikes forcing airlines to cancel thousands of EU overflights from Germany, Spain, Italy, Ireland, and the UK, while France in particular uses Minimum Service Laws to protect French flights. This is unfair. France (and all other EU states) should protect overflights during ATC strikes as they do in Spain, Italy, and Greece.”
The SNCTA, in a written statement, condemned “any attempt to assimilate the entire profession to the isolated actions of a few,” repudiated “misinformation and political instrumentalization” which constitutes “a denial of social democracy following the majority agreement signed,” and denounced “strike actions have been initiated by minority trade unions among air traffic controllers, leading to disruptions, particularly at Orly airport: “Depuis plusieurs semaines, des mouvements de grève sont initiés par des organisations syndicales minoritaires chez les contrôleurs aériens, entraînant des perturbations, en particulier sur l’aéroport d’Orly , a dénoncé de son côté le SNCTA dans un communiqué. Le syndicat majoritaire se désolidarise de ces préavis et dénonce une forme de « désinformation et d’instrumentalisation politique » qui constitue « un déni de démocratie sociale suite à l’accord majoritaire signé . Le SNCTA n’appelle aucun contrôleur aérien à la grève et condamne toute volonté d’assimiler l’ensemble de la profession à l’action isolée de quelques-uns », souligne l’organisation syndicale.”
