Thousands of passengers struck by French strikes to control the air traffic

Tens of thousands of passengers have been affected by a French air strike, which canceled flights in France on Thursday and Friday and has a knockout effect in Europe.

The budget airline Ryanair said it was forced to cancel more than 170 flights and the vacation plans for over 30,000 passengers were violated.

Two French unions organized a two -day strike for working conditions, which led to a quarter of the flights to be canceled at the main airports in Paris and half of the flights at Nice Airport.

French Transport Minister Philip Tabaro has been condemned as unacceptable both the demands of the unions and their decision to strike at such an important moment for people who go on vacation.

Ryanair said the strike had influenced not only its flights to and from France, but also planes flying over French airspace to destinations, including the UK, Ireland, Spain and Greece.

Its CEO Michael O’Liri has accused the air traffic controllers of “detention of European ransom families”.

“It makes no sense and it is abundantly unfairly to go on vacation,” he complained, and called on the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen to take “emergency” to provide minimal levels of service during strikes and to protect flights passing through the French air space.

The French civil aviation body, DGAC, asked airlines to reduce flight schedules at several airports across the country.

The interruption is expected to get worse at French airports on Friday, with 40% less flights than airports in Paris in Charles de Gaulle, Eagle and Bowes.

The strike was named by the Unsa-ICNA Union, which cites a shortage of staff, management problems and a planned introduction of a controversial clock system for controllers among its problems. Conversations with DGAC earlier this week failed to resolve the dispute.

Airlines for Europe (A4E), the leading aviation organ of the continent, described the strike as “impatient”, warning that it would seriously violate travel plans in the midst of the festive season.

EasyJet, another low -priced carrier affected by the interruption, expressed “deep disappointment” and called on a resolution.

Ryanair said on Wednesday that it was also affected by the recent conflict in the Middle East and canceled over 800 flights last month.

Despite the cancellation, the airline said it still operated over 109,000 flights in June, indicating that less than 1% of flights were affected.