Air passengers across Europe are readying themselves for further disruption ahead of strikes by French air traffic controllers between June 3rd and 5th.
The latest series of strikes will bring to 10 the total number of days where continental air routes have been affected by the industrial action in France.
A one-day strike on May 26th forced cancellations to Aer Lingus flights between Dublin, Lyon, Perpignan, Marseille, Barcelona and Alicante, while the absence of French air traffic controllers caused havoc with Ryanair's schedule.
The budget airline cancelled 70 of its flights across Europe, with six Irish flights between Dublin, Murcia and Basel also affected. Both airlines have advised passengers due to fly between June 3rd and 5th to keep checking the status of their flight in advance of departure.
“We are monitoring the situation very closely and will update passengers as promptly as possible should there be any disruption to our service,” said Aer Lingus in a statement.
2,500 flights cancelled
The effect of the strikes has been compounded by similar industrial action taken by air traffic controllers in
Greece
and
Italy
this year. It is estimated more than 2,500 flights across Europe have been cancelled so far in 2016 because of the strikes.
French air traffic controllers will also down tools on June 14th, and there is concern this will affect Irish fans flying back from the country's Euro 2016 opener against Sweden which takes place the previous day, as well as supporters of other teams competing in the tournament.
Ryanair’s “Keep Europe’s Skies Open” online petition has so far attracted more than 200,000 signatures, with the company calling for European legislative bodies to ban strikes by air traffic controllers.
The workers are protesting over plans to raise the retirement age of controllers from 57 to 59. The May 26th strike coincided with demonstrations by French oil workers which led to road blockades and confrontations with riot police.