Europe: airlines fear new strikes this summer

The Airlines for Europe (A4E) association has once again called on the European Commission, as it did in March at the height of the strike by French air traffic controllers, to mitigate the effects of a possible social conflict. .

A4E, which defends the interests of major carriers based on the Old Continent including Ryanair, easyJet, Air France, Lufthansa and British Airways, wants  » compulsory arbitration before the air traffic controllers’ unions threaten to launch a strike « . The organization also wants « 21 days notice » for these strikes and insists again on the « protection of overflights  » of the country where the social movement takes place, as well as a  » right of recourse with the providers of navigation services airline » to be compensated for the cost of the disruptions, she explained in a press release.

In mid-April, the air traffic monitoring body Eurocontrol estimated that 30% of flights in Europe, or  » more than 10 million » passengers, had been affected since the beginning of March by the strike of French air traffic controllers.

Some air traffic controllers have in fact taken part in challenging the pension reform in France, which has led to the cancellation of part of the movements departing from or arriving at airports, but also to the reduction in the number of flights that may cross the country’s airspace.

On Tuesday, nearly 965,000 people had signed a petition launched on March 20 by Ryanair, the first European company for the number of passengers, to call on the European authorities to protect these overflights. « We respect the right to strike, but the cascading effects of flight disruptions between Member States are unbearable. Millions of Europeans wishing to travel this summer risk seeing their plans shattered by strikes », warned the director general . acting from A4E, Laurent Donceel, quoted in the press release.

The main global association of airlines, Iata, envisages a  » strong » peak in activity this summer in Europe, with reservations for the period May-September 40% higher than those of 2022, already a year of clear recovery. post-pandemic. But the organization also estimated in a press release on Tuesday that « social disruption, particularly in France, is a source of concern ».