The ongoing strike by French air traffic controllers has disrupted air travel across Europe. It has grounded flights and left hundreds of thousands of passengers facing delays, cancellations, and rerouted journeys. Yet the real crisis is unfolding above France, where overflights, i.e. flights that simply pass through French airspace, are becoming collateral damage in what is essentially a national labor dispute.
French ATC unions cite staffing shortages, poor working conditions, and increased surveillance policies as the main reasons behind the strike. Ryanair, for its part, has denounced the action as one of many “recreational strikes.” These strikes hurt the rest of Europe more than France itself, highlighting concerns about overflights.
Overflights: The Invisible Victims of a Visible Strike
If you’re flying from London to Rome, Amsterdam to Barcelona, or Frankfurt to Casablanca, your flight likely crosses French-controlled airspace. This is one of the busiest corridors in European aviation. When French ATC staff walk out, it’s not just Charles de Gaulle and Orly that are affected. Much of Europe’s air traffic gets rerouted or delayed. These disruptions lie at the heart of the overflight crisis triggered by the French ATC strike.
- Ryanair, which cancelled over 400 flights during the first two days of the strike, says only about 20% of those flights were to or from France. The remaining 80% were simply flying over French territory. This highlights the strike’s disproportionate impact on overflights.
- easyJet was hit hard as well, cancelling 274 flights, many of them rerouted or grounded due to French airspace closures.
The extended strike has caused widespread disruption, particularly for low-cost carriers that rely heavily on short-haul, cross-border flights.
The Numbers Behind the Disruption
Based on Eurocontrol and airline data:
- Over 1,500 flights cancelled between July 3 and 5
- More than 300,000 passengers affected
- Fuel burn increased by approximately 15% on rerouted overflights through Belgium, Germany, or Spain
- Ryanair alone cancelled over 400 flights, with delays across hundreds more
The French civil aviation authority (DGAC) ordered airlines to cancel 40% of flights at Paris Charles de Gaulle and Orly. It also issued similar restrictions at Nice, Marseille, Lyon, and several Corsican airports. This created a ripple effect across the entire European network.
A Pattern of Disruption
France has long been Europe’s epicenter for air traffic control strikes. Between 2010 and 2017, more than 250 ATC strike days were recorded in France alone. These accounted for over 70% of all such disruptions in the EU during that period. In 2018, France logged 24 strike days. In 2023, that figure surged to 67 days, the highest in Europe by a wide margin.
So far in 2025, there have already been at least nine strike days, and the number is likely to rise as the summer travel season progresses.
These disruptions often coincide with peak travel periods such as summer holidays, spring breaks, and major public events. This amplifies their effects on the broader European network.
Why the EU Can’t (or Won’t) Intervene
Despite the regional impact, the European Commission has limited authority over national ATC strikes. Labor actions fall under the jurisdiction of individual member states, even when they disrupt flights across multiple countries.
The proposed Single European Sky (SES) initiative is intended to streamline air traffic management across the bloc. However, it has made little progress in over a decade. Critics, including Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary, have dismissed SES as ineffective. They instead called for a focused policy to protect overflights during national strikes.
“Overflights could and should be protected, by the EU commission” O’Leary said this week, urging the Commission to take action that would shield cross-border air traffic from localized walkouts.
The Bottom Line
The French ATC strike highlights a deeper structural issue in European aviation. The continent may be economically unified, but it remains operationally fragmented. Without reforms to protect overflights and modernize airspace management, airlines will continue to bear the cost of national disruptions. Consequently, travelers will keep paying the price.
Until then, the pattern will repeat. France strikes, and Europe stalls.
Image Source: pexels.com – Connor Danylenko
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