A strike arrives at its airports to collapse European air traffic

“Today we had to go home and the first flight available is July 8. We don’t have a floor, we don’t find a hotel, a car, or train. We found nothing.” The comment He is from Mariano Mignola, an Italian tourist who last week suffered in his flesh the effects of the France’s air controllers strike just when he was preparing to take a flight in Orly with his children.

Its case is not unique and reflects an alarming reality that has shaken the sector, both in France and in the rest of Europe, including of course Spain: The capacity of Gauling drivers to knock out the traffic European.

What happened? That French air controllers have demonstrated their pressure capacity. And big, inside and outside your country. On Thursday 3 and Friday 4, just when thousands of Europeans made their bags to start their vacations, the collective He summoned a break that put the air traffic above the continent.

The strike was organized UNSA-ICNA (The USAC-CGT union also added) after two unsuccessful meetings with the General Directorate of Civil Aviation (DGAC) and a clear purpose: improve workers’ conditions. According to Precise I mondeextended to 270 from a total template of 1,400 controllers.

Was it affected traffic? Yes. On Thursday the break had already felt in 11 airports From the French network and some of the most relevant in the country were forced to suppress 25% of all its programming. To tackle the problem and adjust the operation to the number of controllers available, on Friday the DGAC even asked to airlines that canceled about 40% of their flights in the three main Paris terminals. Nor for those avoided the intense chorreo of complaints of tourists, Companies And even Professional associations.

Can the impact be measured? Yes. The sector has not taken to share figures that give an idea of ​​the impact that the strike in air traffic had, both French and other nations. “The European skies are unnecessarily paralyzing during Le Grand Départone of the most busy weekends for trips “, He denounced Thursday Airlines For Europe (A4E)an association that includes Ryanair, Air France-KKM, Lufthansa, British Airways and Easyjet.

To prove it, I shared Some figures: More than 1,500 canceled flights, almost 300,000 affected passengers and more than 500,000 minutes in delays (equivalent to a whole year). And that, he stressed, when the strike had not yet ended.

Is there more data? Yes. A4E was not the only one to alert the consequences of the strike for the European sector. In its latest weekly Eurocontrol report Recognize that the network was “significantly affected” by the break and speaks of delays that directly blames what happened in the France control towers.

According to your calculationsthe strike accumulated important delay in traffic management, both directly and indirectly. Regarding operations, Your balance It is resounding: “3,343 flights less from/to French airports compared to the previous week and (…), 1,206 less overflows with Gallic airspace.”

Was Spain affected? Yes. And clearly. The Association of Airlines (Wing) He took stock Yesterday of what happened and concluded that “one in three flights operated in Spain” on Thursday and Friday was affected by the strike. In traffic that is equivalent to almost 2,000 flights with departure or arrival Spain with delays and thousands of harmed passengers. The collective estimates that during the stop days the average delay of the flights affected in our country was around 42 minutes.

“On Thursday 1,082 flights operated in Spain (31% of the flights) suffered delays due to the strike in Gallic air control, with an average of 49 minutes per flight. On Friday, 873 flights were affected (23%) with an average of 33 minutes per flight,” he says. With those figures on the table, ClarifySpain would be the second most affected country, behind France. There he estimates that direct operation (take -off and landings) descended 32% due to protests.

What does the sector think? Alert impact on air traffic and tourism. In fact wing claims that are protected with “urgency” the over -uelos in France when the controllers of the country declare themselves on strike to “avoid damage to passengers and airlines.” It would be nothing new, remember: it is already done in Italy, Greece or Spain. “Citizens cannot be captive to the strikers’ strikes in France, whose affectation extends beyond their borders, impacting worryingly in our country,” Crows Its president.

Very critical The general director of Ryanair, Michael O’Lery, has also been shown, who recalled that much of the affected passengers did not fly with origin or destination France, but that they crossed the country’s airspace. “It makes no sense and is extremely unfair for passengers and EU families who go on vacation,” emphasize The manager, who has already asked Ursula von der to adopt “urgent measures” to protect the flying.

“It is unacceptable that flights that survive France and that could operate without interruptions are unnecessarily canceled, simply because the European Commission does not protect overflow flights or defends the single market.”

Images | Charles (Flickr) and Vincent Desjardins (Flickr)

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