French air traffic controllers strike hits Europe summer travel

TDT | Manama

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French air traffic controllers launched a two-day strike on Thursday to protest understaffing and "toxic management", disrupting travel for tens of thousands of people in Europe at the start of a busy summer holiday season.

Hundreds of flights have been cancelled in France, with the strike by two French unions also affecting air traffic across western Europe.

Half of all flights in Nice, France's third-largest airport, and a quarter of flights at Paris Orly and Paris Charles de Gaulle, one of Europe's busiest hubs, have been cancelled.

Disruption is expected to worsen on Friday, the eve of the school holidays.

"We're trying to stay positive, there are worse things, but it's annoying," Nadia Rivet, a 51-year-old bank employee, told AFP.

Rivet was planning to spend six days in the French capital but her flight from the southwestern city of Pau on Thursday morning was cancelled.

"Everyone has the right to strike, but it's punitive. Air traffic controllers aren't the worst off," she said, adding she hoped to have more luck on Friday.

The DGAC civil aviation authority has asked airlines to cancel some of their flights to ensure there are enough controllers on duty.