EasyJet and major French airlines not expected to be impacted by Thursday pilot strike
Travellers should however check the status of their flight before arriving at the airport
If you are travelling tomorrow on a French airline, your flight should still be running as scheduled
William Perugini/Shutterstock
A strike by France’s leading pilot’s union tomorrow (Thursday November 14) should not affect flight schedules, major airlines have said.
The syndicat national des pilotes de ligne (SNPL) union called on its members to strike over a planned increase to France’s solidarity tax for airlines, set to raise up to €1 billion per year for the government.
Other airline employee unions also called on members to back the strike.
However, major French carrier Air France-KLM said it “should be able to transport all customers,” on Thursday, at a meeting of the Fédération nationale de l'aviation et de ses métiers yesterday (November 12).
Other French airlines including French bee, Corsair, and Air Caraïbes also said they should be unaffected.
International carriers including low-cost giant easyJet have also said they should be unaffected by the strike. However, Ryanair has not commented.
France’s civil aviation authority has not mentioned any impact on flight schedules due to the action.
In previous strikes – including last year’s air traffic controller protests – the authority has released official warnings if services or airports are to be disrupted.
People set to fly in or out of France tomorrow should still check their flight status to be sure it remains unaffected, but cancellations due to the strike are now unlikely.
Winter of discontent?
Despite the minimal disruption, the action in the aviation sector kicks off a week of strike and protest action across France, which will also see rail workers and farmers block transport routes across the country.
Read more: Strikes and protests intensify in France: flights, trains and roads impacted this week
All three groups have threatened to continue action until demands are met, with rail workers already filing an ‘unlimited’ strike motion from December 11 onwards, running throughout the Christmas season.
This type of motion does not necessarily mean workers will strike on every day of the movement, but that they can choose to do so on any such day.
Further action has not been officially announced by aviation workers, however unions previously stated additional strike motions would be filed if plans to raise airline taxes were not shelved.
Read more: Planned French air travel tax hike will push up ticket prices, say easyJet
