Air France says majority of its flights will run amid nationwide air-traffic control strike

Airlines including easyJet and British Airways have cancelled flights tomorrow

With foreign airlines cancelling dozens of flights ahead of a nationwide air-traffic control (ATC) strike in France, the biggest French airline claims the vast majority of its flights will be going ahead.

Controllers are stopping work from 7pm today (8 May) to 6am on Friday 10 May.

Eurocontrol, which is coordinating the “mitigation plan”, says that air movements will be restricted, with airlines serving Marseille, Lyon, Toulouse and Paris Orly told to reduce their schedules on Thursday by 30 per cent.

Overflights – by aircraft transiting French airspace without landing – are to be cut by 50 per cent on Thursday.

Airlines for Europe (A4E), the Brussels-based pressure group, estimates 550 flights will be cancelled, impacting around 75,000 passengers.

Yet the departure information for Paris Orly and Charles de Gaulle shows all Air France flights operating normally on Thursday.

The French airline says it will operate all its long-haul flights, but cancel 27 per cent of short-haul departures.

Many of these are regional flights on Air France and its subsidiary, Hop!, with links from Lyon to Biarritz, Bordeaux, Brussels, Caen, Lille, Lorient, Marseille, Metz, Nice, Strasbourg and Toulouse grounded on Thursday.

Four Air France flights between Paris Orly and Pau have been cancelled on Wednesday evening, because Pau is expected to be closed due to no air-traffic control cover.

British Airways has cancelled 36 flights linking London with France and other countries due to the restriction on overflights.

Three round-trips to Barcelona and Madrid have been grounded, along with services to Basel, Geneva and Zurich.

BA has posted a furious online statement, saying: “Yet again this will, unfortunately, bring another wave of unnecessary disruption for some customers travelling in Europe.

“Like all airlines, we have had to cancel a number of flights but will be using larger aircraft where possible, on other services to help affected customers.”

EasyJet has cancelled a total of 54 flights, and is warning others will be disrupted. The airline said: “Sixty-five per cent of easyJet flights operate through French air space and may be delayed.

“Although this situation is outside of our control we would like to apologise to any affected passengers for the inconvenience caused.”

Thomas Reynaert, the managing director of A4E, said: “Politicians must act immediately to protect the rights of consumers and prevent long-term damage to European economies.

“A better protection of overflights (while not at the expense of the country where the strike originates) is imperative and long overdue.”

The controllers’ strike is part of a day of industrial action by public servants across France against President Macron’s plans to reform the public sector.