More than 2400 air liaisons on this year have been sold in Europe because of the French aiguilleurs, according to a bilan published Monday by the traffic surveillance organization Eurocontrol, and what a new problem is profiled at the end of the month. “More than 2,400 flights were canceled” during this social movement, while others suffered significant delays, of the order of 45 minutes for each trip over French territory, said the director general of Eurocontrol, Eamonn Brennan, in a summary on his Twitter account. .
According to the organization, 28,967 flights were made last Friday, compared to 31,450 the day before. For the week as a whole, the daily average was 29,438 daily flights, a decrease of 2.2% compared to the previous week, again as a result of the strike.
Companies invited to reduce their flight program
The social movement was launched by the National Union of Air Traffic Controllers (SNCTA, majority) to demand salary increases in the face of inflation, but also an acceleration of hiring.
The General Directorate of French Civil Aviation (DGAC) had asked the companies to give up half of their flight program for Friday, that is, “about 1,000 canceled flights” with origin or destination in French territory. Ryanair, the leading airline in the Old Continent, had mentioned the cancellation of 420 flights “mainly flying over France”, without necessarily landing there, and denounced an “unjustified” movement.
A wave of retirements between 2029 and 2035
The SNCTA, which announced a new strike from September 28 to 30 inclusive, is concerned “about the current level of inflation as well as future hiring.” The union wants to take advantage of this notice period “to negotiate,” according to a press release released on Saturday. These professionals are especially alarmed by the expected retirement of a third of air navigation control engineers (ICNA) between 2029 and 2035.
It is therefore necessary, according to them, to anticipate this “wall of exits” from next year and to budget for training in this regard, but “after six months of negotiations to prepare this finance law [2023]the SNCTA still does not have elements or concrete guarantees” responding to their requests.
Source: BFM TV
