In Paris, about 75 percent will be canceled on Thursday. Orly flights and 55 percent. flights at Charles de Gaulle airport, the civil aviation authority DGAC told airlines in a statement seen by AFP on Wednesday.
About 65 percent will also be canceled. flights at Marseille airport and 45 percent. flights elsewhere in France, the statement said.
“Totally unacceptable”
Because the details are unclear, European airlines have complained of severe disruption to air traffic, even for flights that were supposed to fly over France.
“While the cancellation of the strike may be a relief for some passengers, the fact that the cancellation was announced at the last minute means there will still be significant disruption to flights in France and much of Europe tomorrow,” said the director general of the sector association Airlines for Europe (A4E). Ourania Georgoutsakou.
Before the strike, airlines were forced to cancel more than 2,000 flights, most of which had to land in or take off from France. A further 1,000 flights had to be diverted from French airspace, A4E said.
German airline Lufthansa and low-cost airline easyJet warned that their passenger flights through French airspace could be disrupted on Thursday.
“The scale of the disruption caused by this strike and the impact it will have on our customers is completely unacceptable, especially for the hundreds of thousands of customers whose flights will not take off or land in France,” said easyJet CEO Johan Lundgren.
Unions had called a strike after initial talks broke down, raising fresh concerns about possible action in late July during the Olympics in Paris, when millions of visitors are expected.
Tags: Planes canceled masse France due planned canceled strike workers
