French air traffic controllers started a two-day strike Tuesday that led to 1,800 flight cancellations at airlines including Air France-KLM Group and EasyJet Plc as they protested against European plans to curtail national oversight.
Employees will return to their posts Thursday morning, a day earlier than previously planned. Air France SA sought to transport all long haul passengers by reducing frequencies on key destinations such as New York, while travelers on flights in France or to Europe were asked to postpone. Deutsche Lufthansa AG scrapped 171 flights into France on Tuesday.
The strike responds to plans by European Union regulators to expand their powers in a bid to lower air traffic charges and shorten flight routes in the bloc, challenging national controllers. Proposed draft legislation would give the European Commission greater authority to enforce performance standards for air traffic control organizations and would open up their support services such as meteorology to competition.
European Union Transport Commissioner Siim Kallas on Tuesday called for a speedy implementation of the centralization plan as the current system’s inefficiencies are costing airlines and customers some $6.6 billion annually.
French Transport Minister Frederic Cuvillier said that France and Berlin are seeking a postponement of the plan. He said that he and his German colleague, Peter Ramsauer, asked the European Transport commissioner to formally “delaythis type of liberalization” at the European summit at the end of June.
The protests risk to throw into disarray Airbus SAS’ plans to run the first test flight of its A350 aircraft this week. The planemaker has indicated it wants to fly in coming days, without specifying a date, and is planningto invite reporters to witness the event.
The protest is the first since 2010, when some flight controllers joined a protest against changes in French pension rules. The last strike triggered by controller complaints came in February 2008, when union members staged the four-day walk-out to protest against changed responsibilities for some areas.
This time, France’s civil air authority has asked airlinesto cut by half the number of scheduled aircraft movements so flights can be managed by fewer controllers.
EasyJet said on its website that about 128 flights will be canceled each day. Passengers will be advised by e-mail of any cancellations and given the option of a refund or a transfer to another flight. EasyJet cancellations include 17 to and from Nice, 11 to and from Toulouse, and 22 to and from Paris’s Charles deGaulle airport.
Ryanair Holdings Plc, Europe’s largest low-fare airline, said 102 flights would be affected and called on French authorities to intervene to end further disruptions. The right of air traffic controllers to strike should be revoked, the airline said in a statement Monday.
Information for this article was contributed by Jonathan Stearns of Bloomberg News and by The Associated Press.
Business, Pages 27 on 06/12/2013