New French law insufficient to mitigate impact of ATC strikes, say European airlines

Over the course of this year, French air traffic control (ATC) employees have repeatedly organised strikes, leading to thousands of delays and cancellations, the effect of which spilled over to the entire continent. According to Airlines for Europe (A4E), 2023 saw France accounting for the majority of ATC strike days in the EU, with 67 in total. This resulted in over 4,000 flights cancelled, 24,000 flights delayed and impacted over 11m passengers. Repeated calls have been made for the French government, on one side, and the European Commission, on the other, to intervene and take action to mitigate the impact of the strikes, if not domestically, at least for the protection of overflights – flights that do not depart from or land in France, but simply pass over the country, which are still affected by the walkouts. In November, the government passed a new law requiring individual people “whose absence is likely to directly affect the performance of flights” to declare whether or not they will be participating in a strike at least 48 hours before the action takes place. While unions already had to announce a strike at least 5 days in advance, there was no requirement for each employee to indicate participation in the action or not, making it impossible to predict the real impact the strike would have and impeding appropriate preparation for the minimal disruption of passengers. “It is a balanced text which aims to better organize service on strike days by respecting the right to strike and giving guarantees to passengers (traffic forecast) and controllers (advance notice for requisitions)”, Senator Vincent Capo-Canellas, who proposed the law, said in November. “This text makes it possible to avoid the disorganization of air transport and flight cancellations without many strikers. Traffic will be proportional to the number of strikers, which guarantees social dialogue based on the mobilization or not of employees.”<br/>