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Which French airports will be hit by cancellations during Tuesday's strike?

The Local France
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Which French airports will be hit by cancellations during Tuesday's strike?
Photo by Martin BUREAU / AFP

Tuesday marks the latest pension strike in France and flight cancellations and delays should be expected as air traffic controllers walk out. Here's which airports will be affected and when.

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Tuesday, June 6th, is the latest one-day strike in the ongoing battle over French pension reform.

Although the strike will hit several sectors including public transport and schools, the worst affected services will be flights.

Find the full list of Tuesday strikes HERE

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When

Although the strike only lasts for 24 hours, France's civil aviation authority said to expect that flight disruption would run from the evening of Monday, June 5th until 6am on Wednesday, June 7th.

It's also possible that some flights will experience knock-on disruption later in the week if, for example, planes end up in the wrong place after the strike.

Where

The disruption will be concentrated on certain airports.

The Direction générale de l'aviation civile (DGAC) has requested that airlines cancel 33 percent of flights in and out of Paris Orly airport.

It has also requested that 20 percent of flights in and out of the following airports be cancelled;

  • Lyon
  • Marseille
  • Nice
  • Toulouse
  • Bordeaux
  • Nantes

Other airports - including Paris Charles de Gaulle airport - should be unaffected by the air traffic controllers' strike.

The choice of which flights to cancel is left up to airlines, and most airlines try to protect long-haul flights to minimise disruption.

Anyone with a flight booked is advised to contact their airline.

Overflights 

Flights which are merely passing over French airspace - known as overflights - may also be affected by the air traffic control strike.

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Around half of all flights in French airspace at any one time are passing over the country, rather than taking off or landing in France, but are still controlled by French air traffic control.

If you have a flight passing over France on Tuesday, it may be delayed or have to take a longer route to avoid France. There could also be some cancellations - again, passengers are advised to contact their airlines.

Other disruption

The flight cancellations are caused by air traffic controllers striking.

So far, other airport staff such as baggage handlers and security staff have not indicated that they will be taking strike action on Tuesday, so most airports should be functioning as normal.

However, previous pension strike days have seen some 'surprise' actions such as blockades at Paris airports. 

Rail services are also expected to be lightly disrupted on Tuesday, although most city public transport is expected to run as normal - the advice is to leave plenty of time for your journey to and from the airport. Taxi drivers will not strike. 

Towns and cities across France will see marches and demonstrations on Tuesday. 

You can find the latest strike announcements in our strike section HERE.

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