British air passengers are held to ransom over French industrial strikes

FURTHER flight cancellations and delays are expected today March 21 throughout the UK due to French air traffic controllers after a turbulent weekend of disruptions.  

Thanks to industrial strikes in France, many UK passengers were forced to reschedule flights or face long delays. Flights to certain EU countries from Heathrow, Gatwick and Luton were delayed with the average wait being 50 minutes. Luton confirmed that flights to Amsterdam and Nimes had been affected as a result of a “knock-on effect in the network”.

In total 82 Easy-jet flights had been cancelled, including 32 arriving and leaving from the UK. Whilst Easy-jet was happy to disclose the scope of the disruption, British Airways remained tight lipped about it: “All we can to minimise disruption to customers affected”.

They did confirm that larger aircrafts are now being used and some flights re-routed. Ryanair commented that the French government should intervene so that UK passengers are no longer “held to ransom” by “tiny numbers” of French workers.

The airline continued that there is: “repeated blackmail and disruption by ATC unions”. They are calling for passengers to sign a petition which it will send to the European Commission. 

France is seeing similar problems in delays and cancellations which is perhaps understandable, given the current state of affairs with some airplanes being re-routed. There are delays in 6 French airports although Marseille is the worst affected. Others include Toulouse, Bordeaux, Orly, Roissy Charles-de-Gaulle and Lyon and Nice.

Angry French air traffic controllers are up in arms against a stop to recruitment and lack of investment in the system they use. 

Travellers are advised to contact their airlines to check the current status of their flights. 

Disruptions are thought to last until March 22.