PostedSeptember 19, 2022, 7:41 PM
Air transport in EuropeA first strike caused the cancellation of 2,400 flights last Friday
On September 16, French air traffic controllers launched a movement to demand higher wages. They might put it back at the end of the month, which should disrupt air traffic.
More than 2,400 air routes were canceled last Friday in Europe (here at Roissy-Charles-de-Gaulle), due to the strike by French air traffic controllers.
AFP
More than 2,400 air routes were canceled last Friday in Europe due to the strike by French air traffic controllers, according to a report published Monday by the traffic monitoring body, Eurocontrol. Other flights suffered significant delays, of the order of 45 minutes for each trip over French territory, said Eurocontrol director general Eamonn Brennan on his Twitter account.
According to the organization, 28,967 flights took place last Friday, once morest 31,450 the day before. Over the week as a whole, the daily average was 29,438 flights per day, a drop of 2.2% compared to the previous week, once more a consequence of the strike.
The social movement was launched by the National Union of Air Traffic Controllers (SNCTA) to demand salary increases in the face of inflation, but also an acceleration of recruitment.
The General Directorate of French Civil Aviation had asked the companies to give up half of their flight program for Friday, that is to say “regarding 1000 canceled flights” departing from or arriving on French territory.
“Unjustified” movement for Ryanair
Ryanair, the first air carrier of the Old Continent, had mentioned the cancellation of 420 flights “mainly flying over France”, without necessarily landing there, and denounced an “unjustified” movement. The SNCTA, which announced a new strike from September 28 to 30 inclusive, is concerned “regarding the current level of inflation, as well as future recruitments”. The union wants to use this notice period “to negotiate”.
These professionals are particularly alarmed by the planned retirement of one-third of air navigation control engineers between 2029 and 2035. Yet “at least five years separate recruitment from qualification” and training capacities are “ structurally limited. It is therefore necessary, according to them, to anticipate this “wall of departures” from next year and to budget for training in this direction, but “following six months of negotiations to prepare this finance law, the SNCTA still has no information concrete nor of guarantees” answering its requests.
(AFP)
