Hundreds of flights canceled due to French air traffic control strike

According to Swiss broadcaster SRF, due to the strike, Swiss International Air Lines canceled eleven flights on Thursday to Nice, Marseille, and Paris. Around ten additional flights are canceled on Friday as the disruption continues.

As a result of the strike, Swiss had to rebook nearly 3,000 passengers.

The airline deployed larger aircraft on two round-trip flights between Zurich and Nice on Thursday morning to accommodate more travelers.

Additionally, Oliver Buchhofer, Swiss’s Chief Operating Officer, explained at a media conference in Zurich that the strike by French air traffic controllers caused delays of up to an hour for flights departing Switzerland toward the southwest or west, which required passage through French airspace.

The strike and resulting flight disruptions come at the start of Europe’s summer holiday season — one of the busiest travel periods of the year.

France’s Civil Aviation Authority on Wednesday asked several airlines to reduce flights at Paris airports by 40% on Friday due to the planned strike.

Ryanair also issued a statement on Thursday, saying that in addition to flight cancellations to and from France, the strike would affect all flights passing over France. The Irish airline said that passengers flying over French airspace — from the UK to Greece or from Spain to Ireland — would also be impacted.

Ryanair CEO Michael O'Leary called on Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, to take immediate action to reform air traffic control services in the EU.