France woke to widespread air-travel disruption on Monday, 9 February 2026, as a two-day national strike by air-traffic controllers entered its second—and most disruptive—day. The Direction générale de l’aviation civile (DGAC) asked airlines to cancel additional services at Paris-Orly and Marseille-Provence after weekend negotiations with three leading unions (SNCTA, UNSA-ICNA and USAC-CGT) broke down. By mid-morning the walk-out had already forced the scrubbing of about 180 flights and generated average delays of more than an hour at Orly, Toulouse-Blagnac and Bordeaux-Mérignac, with Marseille seeing hold-ups of two hours. Long-haul operations at Paris-Charles-de-Gaulle were spared only because management redeployed supervisory staff to critical radar positions. (gulftime.ae)
The dispute centres on a long-running workforce-planning reform intended to consolidate approach-control centres and shift hundreds of positions to a new digital tower in Toulouse. Unions say the restructuring undermines safety and overloads already-thin rosters; DGAC counters that automation and looming retirements make reform unavoidable. Talks have seesawed for months, but broke down last Thursday when the ministry rejected demands for a two-year hiring moratorium and an inflation-indexed pay rise.
For the business-travel community the timing is painful. Paris Fashion Week Men’s opens tomorrow, and multinationals report that senior executives are being rerouted through Brussels or Zurich before taking high-speed rail into France. Freight forwarders are similarly jittery: the strike coincides with the peak of France’s fresh-produce export season, and perishables handlers at Orly warn that extended delays could force them to divert cargo to Spanish and Dutch airports.
![Air-Traffic Controller Strike Grounds Hundreds of Flights Across France]()
International passengers forced to reroute through alternative hubs should verify that their stopovers do not trigger unexpected visa obligations. VisaHQ’s France portal (https://www.visahq.com/france/) keeps travelers updated on entry rules and can arrange expedited visas when itineraries change at the last minute, providing a safety net while flight schedules remain fluid.
Corporate mobility managers should activate contingency plans immediately. DGAC says further cancellations remain possible until 05:00 CET Tuesday, and advises passengers to check airline apps before travelling to the airport. Employees with inflexible meetings might be rebooked via rail or asked to delay departure; companies should remind staff that EU Regulation 261 compensation does not apply when cancellations are caused by air-traffic-management strikes. Longer-term, the episode underscores the value of maintaining dual-supplier airline agreements and keeping a stock of pre-approved rail itineraries for intra-European hops.
Although the walk-out is scheduled to end late Monday night, unions have already filed a seven-day notice for a potential follow-up strike during the busy Easter getaway if talks remain stalled. Mobility teams should therefore monitor DGAC communiqués and budget for ongoing volatility in French air-space over the next quarter.
The dispute centres on a long-running workforce-planning reform intended to consolidate approach-control centres and shift hundreds of positions to a new digital tower in Toulouse. Unions say the restructuring undermines safety and overloads already-thin rosters; DGAC counters that automation and looming retirements make reform unavoidable. Talks have seesawed for months, but broke down last Thursday when the ministry rejected demands for a two-year hiring moratorium and an inflation-indexed pay rise.
For the business-travel community the timing is painful. Paris Fashion Week Men’s opens tomorrow, and multinationals report that senior executives are being rerouted through Brussels or Zurich before taking high-speed rail into France. Freight forwarders are similarly jittery: the strike coincides with the peak of France’s fresh-produce export season, and perishables handlers at Orly warn that extended delays could force them to divert cargo to Spanish and Dutch airports.
International passengers forced to reroute through alternative hubs should verify that their stopovers do not trigger unexpected visa obligations. VisaHQ’s France portal (https://www.visahq.com/france/) keeps travelers updated on entry rules and can arrange expedited visas when itineraries change at the last minute, providing a safety net while flight schedules remain fluid.
Corporate mobility managers should activate contingency plans immediately. DGAC says further cancellations remain possible until 05:00 CET Tuesday, and advises passengers to check airline apps before travelling to the airport. Employees with inflexible meetings might be rebooked via rail or asked to delay departure; companies should remind staff that EU Regulation 261 compensation does not apply when cancellations are caused by air-traffic-management strikes. Longer-term, the episode underscores the value of maintaining dual-supplier airline agreements and keeping a stock of pre-approved rail itineraries for intra-European hops.
Although the walk-out is scheduled to end late Monday night, unions have already filed a seven-day notice for a potential follow-up strike during the busy Easter getaway if talks remain stalled. Mobility teams should therefore monitor DGAC communiqués and budget for ongoing volatility in French air-space over the next quarter.
