France’s skies were repeatedly emptied of commercial traffic on 9–10 February after the country’s three main air-traffic-controller unions (SNCTA, UNSA-ICNA and USAC-CGT) launched a 48-hour strike over staffing levels and retirement-replacement ratios.
Despite advance requests from the Direction générale de l’aviation civile (DGAC) for airlines to trim schedules by up to 50 % at Paris-Orly and 30 % at Marseille-Provence, the walk-out triggered roughly 180 cancellations and rolling delays that rippled through airports at Toulouse, Bordeaux and Nice. Orly saw average delays of one hour, while Marseille registered two-hour holds as supervisory staff were redeployed to keep radar positions open. Long-haul departures out of Paris-Charles-de-Gaulle were largely preserved, but carriers such as Air France, British Airways, easyJet and Ryanair cancelled dozens of domestic and intra-European services, rerouting some passengers over rail or alternative hubs.
Amid the scramble to rebook flights or switch to rail, travelers still have to keep an eye on visa validity and entry requirements, especially if last-minute routings take them through different countries. VisaHQ’s France portal (https://www.visahq.com/france/) lets passengers and corporate travel coordinators check real-time visa rules, gather the right documents and arrange expedited processing when necessary—helping to avoid a paperwork surprise on top of strike-related disruption.
![Nation-wide Air-Traffic Controller Walk-Out Grounds Flights Across France]()
The unions accuse the DGAC of allowing a net head-count reduction by failing to replace retiring controllers one-for-one, a practice they say jeopardises safety and increases workload stress ahead of the busy Easter and summer seasons. Management counters that replacement ratios reflect Europe-wide traffic forecasts and modernised automation tools coming online from 2027.
For corporate mobility teams the disruption is a stark reminder that France—sitting beneath 65 % of all Europe-bound over-flights—remains a single point of failure in regional air operations. Companies with time-critical travel should keep contingency rail itineraries on file, remind staff that EU Regulation 261 compensation does not apply to air-traffic-management strikes, and review dual-supplier airline agreements to preserve rebooking flexibility.
Unions have already filed a seven-day notice for a potential follow-up strike over the Easter getaway if negotiations stall, meaning further volatility in French airspace is likely over the next quarter.
Despite advance requests from the Direction générale de l’aviation civile (DGAC) for airlines to trim schedules by up to 50 % at Paris-Orly and 30 % at Marseille-Provence, the walk-out triggered roughly 180 cancellations and rolling delays that rippled through airports at Toulouse, Bordeaux and Nice. Orly saw average delays of one hour, while Marseille registered two-hour holds as supervisory staff were redeployed to keep radar positions open. Long-haul departures out of Paris-Charles-de-Gaulle were largely preserved, but carriers such as Air France, British Airways, easyJet and Ryanair cancelled dozens of domestic and intra-European services, rerouting some passengers over rail or alternative hubs.
Amid the scramble to rebook flights or switch to rail, travelers still have to keep an eye on visa validity and entry requirements, especially if last-minute routings take them through different countries. VisaHQ’s France portal (https://www.visahq.com/france/) lets passengers and corporate travel coordinators check real-time visa rules, gather the right documents and arrange expedited processing when necessary—helping to avoid a paperwork surprise on top of strike-related disruption.
The unions accuse the DGAC of allowing a net head-count reduction by failing to replace retiring controllers one-for-one, a practice they say jeopardises safety and increases workload stress ahead of the busy Easter and summer seasons. Management counters that replacement ratios reflect Europe-wide traffic forecasts and modernised automation tools coming online from 2027.
For corporate mobility teams the disruption is a stark reminder that France—sitting beneath 65 % of all Europe-bound over-flights—remains a single point of failure in regional air operations. Companies with time-critical travel should keep contingency rail itineraries on file, remind staff that EU Regulation 261 compensation does not apply to air-traffic-management strikes, and review dual-supplier airline agreements to preserve rebooking flexibility.
Unions have already filed a seven-day notice for a potential follow-up strike over the Easter getaway if negotiations stall, meaning further volatility in French airspace is likely over the next quarter.
