Dozens of canceled flights, exasperated customers and missed connections… In recent months, multiple strikes have caused havoc 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 air or rail professionals must do. The General Directorate of Civil Aviation (DGAC) must then resort to minimum service and cut flights, without knowing the number of strikers. More often than not, 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 1 p.m., with several air traffic controllers on strike, who had not given notice. The companies then adapted urgently, by eliminating 25 arrivals and 22 flights departing from Paris airport. “Strikes by air traffic controllers have a very strong impact on air traffic, even with few strikers,” notes UDI Senator Vincent Capo-Canellas, before adding that “all the delays generated by the conflict on the pensions represents two million minutes” or more than 33,333 hours of disruption for passengers.
“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 thus 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 a striker 48 hours before”. For Vincent Capo-Canellas, “this will make it possible to better ensure the minimum service and the controllers will know two days before that they are compelled”. For its part, the DGAC will be able to “reduce traffic in proportion to the number of strikers”.
This proposal had already been presented before the Hemicycle, in 2018, by the independent senator Joël Guerriau: “It is necessary to ensure the continuity of 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 also underlined “that between 2010 and 2016, some 12 billion euros were lost due to blockages” and that “France was at the origin of 97% of air disruptions within the European Union”.
Airlines are also affected by these strikes. Since the beginning of the year, “the mobilizations of air traffic control have forced Ryanair to cancel more than 4000 flights, mainly over France”, underlines the company. To show her displeasure, she launched a petition nine weeks ago asking “Ursula von der Leyen – President of the European Commission – to take action to protect European Union passengers and flights”. The petition currently has over one million signatures. The A4E, the association of European airlines, also fears “that the escalation of social 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 for in the law, in addition to the minimum service, an obligation of prior declaration” to strike. On June 15, Senator Vincent Capo-Canellas will therefore confront the executive again on this question. It remains to be seen whether he changes his mind, especially with the approach of a very busy summer in air transport.
