British Airways, Easyjet and Ryanair have all cancelled flights and warned of delays to France due to a national strikes today (June 23).
Irish carrier Ryanair has been forced to cancel 56 flights to and from France following the 51st strike by ATC unions since 2009.
Air France has said all of its flights will go ahead as planned but warned of delays and disruption.
Passengers have been advised to contact their airline before travelling.
In a statement BA said: “Unfortunately we will have to cancel some flights as a result of the strike action and other short-haul flights may also experience some disruption, given how many flights would normally use French airspace each day.??
“We will be using larger aircraft, where possible, to help affected customers and are doing all we can to reduce the levels of disruption.”
Easyjet said: “We would like to inform customers that there will be a French national strike on Thursday. This will have an impact on our flights to and from French airports, as well as those flying in French airspace.
“As the strike will affect all French airports we have taken the decision to proactively cancel a number of flights, allowing customers to re-organise their journeys.”
The French ATC strikes come ahead of eight strike days scheduled to take place by Italian and Portuguese air traffic controllers over the next four weeks.
Europe’s largest airline association Airlines for Europe (A4E) said that more than 1,000 flights are at risk of being cancelled, and called for the European Commission and governments to act.
“European travellers face a summer of chaos, disruption and ruined holidays due to ATC strikes," said Thomas Reynaert, Managing Director of A4E.
"Just this week nine strike days have been confirmed for June and July and they surely won’t be the last. There has never been a greater urgency for the European Commission and the governments to act and to protect the rights of millions of European travellers affected by this unceasing strike actions.
"There is nothing stopping further ATC strikes - we need urgent action to stop these controllers from infringing on people’s rights and destroying their holiday plans."
A4E said that since March ATC strikes in Greece, Italy, Belgium and France have caused over 3,000 cancellations among A4E members and more than 16,000 hours of delays across all airlines operating in European airspace.
ba.com, ryanair.com, easyjet.com, a4e.eu
Mark Caswell
