France, zone of turbulence for airlines

2023-10-13 08:08:33

Aurélien Fleurot / Photo credit: NICOLAS ECONOMOU / NURPHOTO / NURPHOTO VIA AFP
10:08 a.m., October 13, 2023

A strike action affects air traffic controllers this Friday, October 13: 40% of flights are canceled at Orly airport. A situation that is less and less appreciated by international airlines, which are losing money.

After the medical offices, it is the turn of the air traffic controllers to strike. This Friday, 12 unions of liberal doctors are calling for a renewable strike with the same demand: a significant increase in the prices of consultations. At the same time, French airports are disrupted this October 13: 40% of flights are canceled at Orly this Friday morning, 20% in Marseille-Provence and 15% in Beauvais. Air traffic controllers are mobilizing even if certain unions, which signed an Olympic truce for the Paris 2024 Olympics, have not called for following the movement. The strike, a French habit that the European airline sector can no longer tolerate.

Loss of money for companies

If you want to annoy Michael O’Leary, the boss of Ryanair, just say three words: French air traffic controller. Last March, he was fuming following yet another weekend of strike. “We have had to cancel 230 flights in the last three days. This means canceling the flight of 41,000 of our passengers because French air traffic control did not authorize us to fly. We have canceled or severely delayed flights almost every day because that the French air traffic controllers go on strike”, he got angry.

France has become a zone of turbulence for airlines which, each time, lose money, even when their planes do not land on French soil. “For example, flights going from Italy to Great Britain are forced to make very significant detours through Spain and Portugal,” confirms aeronautical specialist Xavier Tytelman. “This means that they overconsume fuel and that a plane which might make, for example, two round trips during the day will only be able to make one.”

France is the most flown airspace in Europe and when there are not strikes, frequent delays are caused by the obsolescence of the equipment in the control towers.

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