Flights at several French airports were experiencing significant delays this Monday at midday, when they were not completely closed: the social movement of some air traffic controllers against the reform of their right to strike is causing major disruptions .
The airports of Tarbes-Lourdes-Pyrénées (Hautes-Pyrénées) and Pau-Pyrénées (Pyrénées-Atlantiques), as well as that of Saint-Yan (Saône-et-Loire) are deprived of air traffic services and therefore do not operate not, according to the online dashboard of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGAC) at the end of the morning.
All Pau-Pyrénées airport flights diverted
The director of Pau-Pyrénées airport, Jérôme Le Bris, confirmed that the national strike movement, “monitored by the controllers of the control tower”, had led to “all flights being diverted” until 20 hours. On the other hand, the communications service at Tarbes-Lourdes airport assured that it was not closed even if a flight was diverted to Toulouse.
Other larger installations are experiencing significant delays in departure or arrival, according to the DGAC. Departures were on average 95 minutes late at Toulouse-Blagnac, 77 at Lille-Lesquin, 64 at Marseille-Provence, 54 at Lyon-Saint-Exupéry, 46 at Bordeaux-Mérignac, 34 at Paris-Charles-de-Gaulle and 28 at Paris-Orly.
The DGAC had asked companies to give up 20 to 25% of their flights
Several unions – the UNSA-ICNA, the USAC-CGT and the CFDT – intend to protest against the adoption on Wednesday of the bill aimed at forcing air traffic controllers to declare themselves individually on strike or not 48 hours in advance, as is already the case at RATP or SNCF.
The DGAC had therefore asked airlines to give up between 20% and 25% of their flight schedule to Orly, Toulouse, Bordeaux and Marseille on Monday.
She also warned that the activity of air navigation en route centers (CRNA), which manage the trajectories of aircraft flying over the territory, would be affected, potentially forcing flights to bypass France.
In fact, European flight operations were also disrupted on Monday morning, according to watchdog Eurocontrol, particularly affecting air corridors in Spain.