Dozens of cancelled flights, exasperated customers and missed connections... In recent months, multiple strikes have caused chaos at French airports. In particular, the mobilizations of air traffic controllers, who are not subject to the same rules as their colleagues.
Indeed, when they are on strike, they are not obliged to declare themselves 48 hours in advance, as other aviation or rail professionals must do. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGAC) must then resort to the minimum service and cancel flights, without knowing the number of strikers. Most often, the organization cancels more flights than necessary, about 30% per strike day. This organization does not exclude last-minute cancellations, when air traffic controllers are missing.
This is particularly what happened at Orly on February 11, at 13 p.m., with several air traffic controllers on strike, who had not filed a notice. The companies then adapted urgently, eliminating 25 arrivals and 22 flights from Paris airport. "The strikes of air traffic controllers have a very strong impact on air traffic, even with few strikers," said UDI Senator Vincent Capo-Canellas, before adding that "all the delays generated by the conflict over pensions represent two million minutes" or more than 33,333 hours of disruption for passengers.
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A system "out of breath"
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Even for air traffic controllers, this system is out of breath, with more than 40 days of minimum service introduced since the beginning of the year, "adds the senator. The latter has tabled a bill, which will be debated on June 15 in the Senate, "in respect of the right to strike" to "add the obligation to declare oneself on strike 48 hours before". For Vincent Capo-Canellas, "this will better ensure the minimum service and the controllers will know the day before that they are on-call". For its part, the DGAC will be able to "reduce traffic proportionally to the number of strikers".
This proposal had already been presented to the Hemicycle, in 2018, by the independent senator Joël Guerriau: "It is necessary to ensure the continuity of the public service by subjecting the right to strike of air traffic controllers to a system of prior notification of 48 hours, as is the case for all other professions in the aviation world". Last February, in the Senate, he stressed that "between 2010 and 2016, some 12 billion euros were lost because of blockages" and that "the France was at the origin of 97% of air disruptions within the European Union".
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Fears for this summer's flights
Airlines are also affected by these strikes. Since the beginning of the year, "the mobilizations of air traffic control have forced Ryanairto cancel more than 4000,4 flights, mainly over the France," says the company. To show her dissatisfaction, she launched a petition nine weeks ago to ask "Ursula von der Leyen – president of the European Commission – to take measures to protect passengers and flights in the European Union". The petition is currently collecting more than one million signatures. The A<>E, the association of European airlines, also fears "that escalating industrial conflicts could derail the summer travel of millions of passengers".
For its part, the French government had asked the DGAC last February "to conduct internal negotiations with the trade unions, to examine how to better anticipate and, if necessary, better activate the minimum service". The Minister of Transport, Clément Beaune, had then mentioned that "it is not provided in the law, in addition to the minimum service, an obligation of prior declaration" to strike. On June 15, Senator Vincent Capo-Canellas will confront the executive again on this issue. It remains to be seen if he changes his mind, especially as he approaches a busy summer in air travel.