France’s largest air-traffic-controller union, SNCTA, walked out at 04:00 on 18 December after marathon talks with the aviation regulator DGAC collapsed over roster reform. By dawn on 20 December the DGAC had issued zero-movement NOTAMs for Montpellier-Méditerranée, Nîmes-Garons and Perpignan–Rivesaltes airports, effectively grounding commercial traffic and redirecting overflights. Lyon Saint-Exupéry was ordered to cancel 60 percent of movements to ease sector pressure.
With TGV seats already sold out for the holiday rush, corporate mobility managers scrambled to reroute travellers through Toulouse and Marseille or pushed meetings online. Exporters of time-critical seafood and medical supplies faced costly diversions and warned of knock-on supply-chain delays.
Employers relocating staff in January have an unexpected headache: third-country nationals who planned “same-day” Schengen visa runs via Montpellier missed biometric appointments. HR teams now must reschedule prefecture visits in Paris or Madrid and may postpone assignment start dates, incurring housing and payroll penalties.
![Southern-France air-traffic-controller strike closes Montpellier, Nîmes & Perpignan airports]()
For organisations suddenly juggling new visa logistics, VisaHQ offers a lifeline. Through its dedicated France page (https://www.visahq.com/france/), the platform can secure alternative Schengen appointment slots, arrange courier pickups for documents, and provide real-time status alerts—helping keep relocations on track even when strikes upend original travel plans.
The strike adds to a record ten ATC stoppage days logged in France this year—double the EU average—and comes six weeks before the country hosts the 2026 Youth Winter Olympics. SNCTA threatens a four-day national strike in mid-January if talks do not restart.
Risk advisers urge companies to diversify routing options, purchase “any-carrier” tickets that can be re-issued at short notice, and verify that travel-insurance policies cover multi-modal rerouting during labour unrest.
With TGV seats already sold out for the holiday rush, corporate mobility managers scrambled to reroute travellers through Toulouse and Marseille or pushed meetings online. Exporters of time-critical seafood and medical supplies faced costly diversions and warned of knock-on supply-chain delays.
Employers relocating staff in January have an unexpected headache: third-country nationals who planned “same-day” Schengen visa runs via Montpellier missed biometric appointments. HR teams now must reschedule prefecture visits in Paris or Madrid and may postpone assignment start dates, incurring housing and payroll penalties.
For organisations suddenly juggling new visa logistics, VisaHQ offers a lifeline. Through its dedicated France page (https://www.visahq.com/france/), the platform can secure alternative Schengen appointment slots, arrange courier pickups for documents, and provide real-time status alerts—helping keep relocations on track even when strikes upend original travel plans.
The strike adds to a record ten ATC stoppage days logged in France this year—double the EU average—and comes six weeks before the country hosts the 2026 Youth Winter Olympics. SNCTA threatens a four-day national strike in mid-January if talks do not restart.
Risk advisers urge companies to diversify routing options, purchase “any-carrier” tickets that can be re-issued at short notice, and verify that travel-insurance policies cover multi-modal rerouting during labour unrest.
