by Lufthansa Flyer | Mar 18, 2014 | Featured, Travel |
The union representing Italy’s Air Traffic Controllers has confirmed that a strike (or what they refer to as an industrial action) will take place on March 30.
The strike is scheduled to only last 4 hours but nevertheless will result in cancellations and excessive delays for those traveling to or from Italy during the day. It is tentatively scheduled from 12:30p to 4:30p local time.
The union has reached out to airlines giving them an opportunity to have certain flights ‘guaranteed’. But this guarantee severely limits how many flights an airline can protect.
The strike will affect flights flying to or from Italy and will not affect flights transiting Italian airspace.
If your travels include flights within Italy on the 30th, at least you have nearly 2 weeks to develop a contingency plan or change your travel plans altogether.
by Lufthansa Flyer | Mar 17, 2014 | Airports, Featured |
Looks like the French union representing Air Traffic Controllers is not bluffing this time and is prepared for a strike to take place throughout the day tomorrow that will affect Air Traffic throughout France.
According to EuroControl, heavy delays are expected throughout the day for flights transiting French Airspace along with high cancellation rates at French airports. Expectations are that 30% of flights in and out of Paris will be canceled with up to 20% of flights being canceled in Lyon, Marseille, Toulouse and Nice.
From what I understand there was to be another attempt to avert the strike later this afternoon, but I’m not sure if this is the case at this point.
If your plans tomorrow call for being in an aircraft in or above France, expect it to be a difficult day, especially if you are on short-haul flights since those are the types that are typically canceled. You may want to consider alternative travel methods tomorrow if you are working with a tight schedule.
by Lufthansa Flyer | Mar 14, 2014 | Airlines, Featured |
A month doesn’t go by where an Air Traffic Controller strike doesn’t threaten air travel in Europe.
The latest threat comes from strike-happy France whose Air Traffic Controller union, SNCTA, has announced a potential ‘Industrial Action’ for March 18.
Negotiations are scheduled throughout the weekend, but should they fail EuroControl warns of widespread delays and up to 30% of flights in and around France to be cancelled.
No other details have been released as unions like to keep a surprise or 2 up their sleeves until just before the start of the strike.
In most cases, these threats are usually averted as the deadline nears and are used as scare tactics to get management to negotiate.
If your travels involve flying to or from France early next week, you may want to investigate back up options such as using rail or renting a car should a strike actually take place.
Next up? Italy has already penciled in an ‘Industrial Action’ of their own for March 30.
Perhaps we should start naming these strike threats using the same convention that we use when naming hurricanes, snow showers and polar vortexes. This way at least we can keep track of them all…..
