Air traffic controllers in France have confirmed their support for the general strike against pension reform called in that country from 18:00 today, local time, and 6:00 on Wednesday 1 February. During this time, staff will provide minimum services.
French airspace is one of the largest in Europe. For this reason, and also because of its geographical location, a large number of aircraft pass through it every day, not only to and from domestic airports, but also on flights between third countries.
This is why strikes by air traffic control personnel over France cause considerable disruption to most of the operations in that part of the continent.
Complications in Spain
ENAIRE, the public business entity in charge of managing air navigation in Spain, one of the European countries traditionally most affected by such strikes, announced today that it will work to “minimise the impact” of the measure on its own airspace.
In a press release, it reported that the situation is expected to have an impact on the areas of responsibility of the control centres in Madrid, Barcelona, Palma de Mallorca and Levante. The organisation has activated its incident management procedures and will reinforce services at its centres, especially in the Central North, East and Balearic regions.
As is customary on days when service is reduced, the French Air Navigation Services Directorate (DSNA) will manage navigation alternatives in conjunction with EUROCONTROL and other related service providers. In Spain, measures will be mainly based on rerouting in order to avoid French airspace.
“Through the various updates and publications of the European network manager, airlines will be able to assess the available alternatives to minimise, as far as possible, the impact on their flights”, ENAIRE explained.
French air traffic controllers’ strike could cause hundreds of flight delays and cancellations over the next two days.
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