Flights will be disrupted. Despite the lifting of a strike notice on Wednesday, April 24, by the National Union of Air Traffic Controllers (SNCTA), the majority organization among French air traffic controllers, 75% of flights should be canceled on Thursday at the airport. Orly, and 55% at Roissy – Charles-de-Gaulle, according to a notification to airlines consulted by Agence France-Presse. These reductions, requested by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGAC), will reach 65% in Marseille-Provence and 45% in other airports in mainland France.
These rates are, depending on the airports, identical to or slightly lower than the figures communicated Tuesday evening. However, after having planned a massive strike action on Thursday, the SNCTA finally announced, on Wednesday, the lifting of its strike notice. “An agreement has been reached”explained the union in a short message on its site, following a conciliation of ” last minute “ which was held “from 8 a.m. to 6:30 p.m.” with the DGAC.
Two other unions, the UNSA-ICNA and the USAC-CGT, had also called a strike. The SNCTA, which gathered 60% of the votes of air traffic controllers in the last professional elections and predicted a “record mobilization” for Thursday, did not communicate details on the crisis exit protocol. He was protesting against the accompanying measures, particularly salary, for an overhaul of French air traffic control.
On Wednesday, the SNCTA explained to its members that, “given the extremely short deadline linked to this last minute conciliation, each controller can cancel his prior declaration, [même si] the deadline of “6 p.m. the day before the day before” [est] exceeded ».