ThoseSky Steers
Strikes in France block dozens of flights in Geneva and Zurich
Swiss has reprogrammed more than 4,500 passengers since Thursday. The strike, which limits the surveillance of the French sky, is supposed to stop on Saturday.
“The affected destinations are always the same-Nice, Marseille and Paris-and we also had to cancel the flights between Zurich and Montpellier on Friday,” said a Swiss spokesperson (illustration image).
AFP
- The strikes of French air controllers have caused the cancellation of 1,500 flights to Europe since Thursday morning.
- Geneva airport is undergoing the full -whip repercussions with 50 flights canceled in two days, including around twenty Easyjet links.
- Airlines reorganize the routes to avoid the French sky and Swiss reprogram more than 4,500 passengers.
Presque a habit. The start of the summer period rhymes with hassle for European passengers, due to a new strike Heavenly sharpeners in France. A thousand flights were canceled on Friday, just on hexagonal airports. After more than 900 Thursday.
The movement affects, in turn, the traffic in neighboring countries. On the whole of Old Continent, 1,500 flights were removed in two days, “affecting 300,000 passengers”, Depending on the group Airlines for Europe. “This strike forces us to reprogram more than 4,500 passengers,” said a spokesperson for Swiss International Air Lines.
Geneva airport is on the front line. Nearly fifty flights – from or on arrival – were canceled there on Thursday. Friday, at the end of the morning, out of the 160 movements scheduled for the day, around thirty flights were already marked «cancelled». “The strike is supposed to end on Saturday at 6 am, but it will probably be necessary to plan a few disturbances tomorrow morning,” warns a spokesperson for the main airport in French-speaking Switzerland.
Flights to Spain affected
“The passage above France is essential for many links in the west and southwest of Europe, a restriction on the surveillance of flights on its territory always has consequences far beyond the journeys at their destination or at the start of its airports,” deciphers Philippe Meyer, aeronautical consultant.
At Swiss, it is explained that “a number of passengers in correspondence in Zurich, who were to continue their trip to other destinations, have already been” rebooked “via other routes in Europe”.
On the Easyjet side, out of the twenty canceled flights displayed in Geneva in two days not only there are rotations to Bordeaux, Nantes or Nice, but also for Málaga or Valencia. “In accordance with the request of the French authorities, [nous] must proactively cancel certain flights, ”confirms the largest company in Geneva. The passengers “will be contacted and will be offered a free transfer to another flight or a refund,” adds the Orange company.
A Geneva-Nice saved
“Companies have the possibility of avoiding the French sky, for example on flights to Portugal, but this means a higher cost in terms of kerosene and additional deadlines-which will affect other rotations previously planned during the day with the apparatus used,” continues Philippe Meyer, also host of the Premiairclassetv blog.
The strike thus disrupts the flights of Swiss to destination and from Spain, “due to the insufficient number of slots (Editor’s note: time slots) allowing them to be taken care of by air traffic control, ”explains the company, reporting delays that can go up to an hour. Deadlines that forced Porto and Barcelona’s return passengers to spend the night on site.
In total, the strike forced Swiss to cancel 40 flights, between Thursday morning and Friday at midday. “The affected destinations are always the same-Nice, Marseille and Paris-and we also had to cancel the flights between Zurich and Montpellier on Friday,” said a spokesperson. The company explains that it has managed to maintain certain links, such as Geneva-Biarritz. Or Geneva-Nice on Friday evening. Likewise, on the two preserved zurich-nice rotations, “greater capacity planes have been planned”.
The return of “unique sky”
The social movement, launched by two minority unions, caused a criticism front in the country – the National Federation of Civil Aviation denounces “the strike too much” – as in the rest of Europe. Swiss says he is “deeply disappointed, in view of the current performance of French air traffic control, the main cause of delays in European airspace this summer”.
In the eyes of Philippe Meyer, a solution would be the implementation of a “single European sky” policy, discussed for years. Clearly, the follow -up of a device crossing the continent by a controller who is not necessarily located in the flying country. “This would ignore repeated strikes, but also to optimize roads, with, at the key, Kerosene savings – and therefore of CO emissions2 – that can approach 20%, ”recalls the specialist.
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