Air control strike hits flights

FLIGHTS in and out of France were hit by delays today due to a strike by air traffic controllers and bad weather in Paris.

Controllers from the CGT union walked out this morning in a "day of action" that will last until 7.00 tomorrow. They are protesting about the threat to 100 jobs.

However, the Direction Générale de l'Aviation Civile said the effects were not severe and air control towers were not operating in "minimum service" mode.

The number of strikers varied, with none out on strike at Paris Charles-de-Gaulle or Nice but several at Aix-en-Provence, Bordeaux and Lyon.

Nice was badly affected in the aftermath of delays elsewhere. Services were up to two hours late and around 30 flights were cancelled including British Airways (London City), Flybe (Southampton) and Brit Air (Rennes).

Charles-de-Gaulle was affected by delays of up to 70 minutes but traffic was also disrupted by fog.

At Paris-Orly, flights were delayed by up to 90mins

At Lyon, two flights were cancelled and 88 hit by delays reaching up to 55 minutes.

At Marseille, flights cancelled included two Gatwick flights through British Airways and easyJet.

At Montpellier, two-hour delays were being felt.

Ryanair has said that it had to cancel four flights - including services from La Rochelle and East Midlands - and other flights were delayed by up to three hours. It has called on the EU Commission to "prevent thousands of Europe’s citizens having their flights cancelled or delayed by tiny numbers of French Air Traffic Controllers going on strike again".