Airlines Blast ‘Intolerable’ Two-Day Strike by French Air Traffic Controllers

This latest strike underscores chronic weaknesses in Europe’s aviation infrastructure. Airlines and passengers are justifiably frustrated but so are the workers who say they’re operating outdated systems under mounting pressure.

Flights across Europe are being hit by a major air traffic control (ATC) strike. Tens of thousands of passengers are affected by two days of industrial action in France. The stoppage started on Thursday and will continue tomorrow, July 4.

As well as departures and arrivals at French airports, the strike is also impacting some flights that usually fly through French airspace. The disruption coincides with the start of the European summer holidays — one of the busiest travel periods of the year.

As of 3 p.m. CET (9 a.m. ET) on July 3, 463 scheduled flights into French airports were canceled due to the strikes. This is around 22% of all scheduled arrivals. A further 455 scheduled departures have been canceled so far from French airports, according to aviation analytics firm Cirium.

Many major carriers proactively canceled flights at the request of France’s civil aviation au