The first departures on vacation will be strongly disturbed in the air. A social movement of air controllers at the call of the UNSA – ICNA will disrupt traffic this Thursday and this Friday. Two the most busy days of the year. The Directorate General for Civil Aviation (DGAC) asks companies to reduce their flight program this Thursday by 25 % in Paris Charles de Gaulle, Orly and Beauvais (Oise).
The abatements, according to the term devoted, climb to 30 % to the airports of Lyon (Rhône), Marseille (Bouches-du-Rhône), Montpellier (Hérault), Ajaccio and Figari (Corsica). Finally, there will be 50 % less flights in Nice (Alpes-Maritimes), Bastia and Calvi (Corsica). The DGAC warns that “despite these preventive measures, disturbances and significant delays” are to be expected in all tricolor airports.
Friday forecasts should be communicated this Wednesday at the end of the day. But according to our information, there is a “big chance” that the disturbances are of the same scale.
Companies are obliged to prevent customers from the cancellation. If you were to fly away, you will have to monitor your email boxes and SMS.
The last big strike of air controllers dates back to May 2024 before the Paris Olympic Games. At that time, 70 % of flights had to be canceled.
Under pressure from vacation departures
The second union of the profession, behind the Almighty SNCTA, claims salary increases and complains, above all, to install the pointers, supposed to check the presence of the controllers in their posts and compliance with work schedules. In self -management, agents sometimes allow themselves to grant rest days, when traffic is calm, although they are planned at the schedule. The practice, called “clearance” in the environment, has brought its share of drifts.
At the end of 2022, two planes had almost collided at Bordeaux Airport (Gironde). Controllers then lacked the call in the controller tower. “Given the liabilities, it is out of the question that we came back,” said last week a member of the DGAC. It is decided and engaged. »»
Conciliation meetings, between the DGAC and the union, have been held in recent days. “They ended without success,” says this close to negotiations. “They did not formulate any response to our alerts,” we are annoying at UNSA-ICTA.
The SNCTA majority union opposed to the movement
The DGAC, and the government, did not give in to pressure from the controllers, despite the repercussions on vacation departures. They could have been much worse if the SNCTA, very largely represented (60 %), had joined the movement. But he opposed it, since he had signed the social protocol which provides, among other things, the installation of these famous pointers. The former Minister of Transport, Clément Beaune, had obtained it from high struggle after multiple wage revaluations.
The social movement, in France, should also disrupt the whole European sky. The links from one country to another force, almost systematically, to fly over France. However, in addition to their essential presence in control towers to allow the landing and takeoff of planes, they also manage all the flights in progress.
True masters of the sky, air traffic cannot take place in good conditions without them. An absolutely crucial role, which grants them an unrivaled capacity of nuisance.
