Aviation authorities requested airlines to cancel hundreds of flights in Europe due to strikes by French air traffic control workers, leading to 1,500 flight cancellations on Thursday and Friday. The European Airlines for Europe association stated that 300,000 passengers would be affected. Delays amounted to almost 500,000 minutes across nearly 33,000 flights. Ryanair canceled over 400 flights, stating many would not have been affected without the strikes. Paris airports faced significant disruptions, with a substantial rise in the percentage of cancellations as families began their summer vacations.
"French air traffic control already delivers some of Europe's worst delay figures and now the actions of a minority of French air traffic control workers will needlessly disrupt the holiday plans of thousands of people in France and across Europe," said A4E chief Ourania Georgoutsakou.
"These strikes are unacceptable," said Ryanair CEO Michael O'Leary, urging the EU Commission to protect such overflights by law in case of strikes.
The timing of the strike is particularly acute with Friday the final day of school in France before the summer holidays, with many families planning an early getaway.
France's DGAC aviation authority said 933 flights departing from or arriving at French airports were cancelled on Thursday, some 10 percent of the total number of flights initially scheduled.
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