NOT EXACTLY HELPING THE CAUSE

Posted on 09/15/2016 | About France

It’s not that France’s tourism sector is having an easy time of it. And it seems French air traffic controllers are determined to make the difficult times just that much more difficult by yet again going on strike. This will be the 14th time this year.

According to the European Organisation for the Safety of Air Navigation, the USAC-CGT union strike is set to end at 4am on Friday.
Ryanair said it was forced to cancel 22 flights on Wednesday night and 72 on Thursday.
easyJet cancelled 64 flights scheduled for Thursday.
British Airways, also cancelled flights, and said it would use larger aircraft where possible to help passengers to reach their destinations.
A British Airways spokesperson said the French air traffic control trade unions "are causing unnecessary frustration and disruption for customers".
"We continue to urge the French government and the trade unions to resolve their issues so that customers can go on their holidays and business trips without these frequent threats of strike action hanging over them."
A Ryanair spokesperson said, "It's reprehensible that Europe's consumers repeatedly have their holiday and travel plans disrupted or cancelled by the selfish actions of ATC unions, who use strikes as a first weapon rather than a last resort.
"This French ATC strike will impact hundreds of thousands of European consumers and throw their travel plans into chaos once more."
An airlines lobby group, Airlines for Europe, had recently urged the European Commission to take action to reduce the impact of air traffic controller strikes.