Last updated on Friday 31 May at 9am
Despite the highly advantageous wage agreement signed by the air traffic controllers on 25 April, the pay disputes at Orly airport continue unabated. Following last weekend's strike, which resulted in 70% being withdrawn from flights, USAC-CGT, the Union syndicale de l'aviation civile-CGT (civil aviation union), has issued strike notice for the next few days. from 31 May to 7 June. In a letter addressed to Damien Cazé, the Director General of Civil Aviation, the union is putting the pressure on, stating that ". many agents are very angry "from the DGAC and that " social unrest is likely to be intense over the coming months" . Not agreeing with certain proposals in the text signed in April, which are judged to be "unacceptable". unacceptable "and do not take taking into account the expectations of a large number of DGAC employees" USA-CGT launched this " strike notice covering all DGAC staff for the days of 31 May to 7 June, as well as for the night afterwards for those working staggered hours"..
However, while passengers may have feared a major strike, it seems that cancellations are not expected to be as significantor even zero. Quoted by several media, a spokesman for the French Civil Aviation Authority (DGAC) told AFP that the DGAC had no plans to ask airlines to cancel flights on either Friday or Saturday.
A reform of navigation services at the heart of the discontent
As a reminder, Orly airport is particularly affected by these strikes, with unions - such as UNSA-ICNA, which took action last weekend - estimating that the airport will be faced with a shortage of controllers by 2027 if nothing is done. From the law of 28 December 2023However, controllers wishing to go on strike must declare themselves individually 48 hours in advance, a measure adopted in order to put an end to the lack of visibility for airlines and information for passengers when these wage movements are triggered. The aim is to keep traffic disruption and chaos at airports to a minimum.
After 15 months of negotiations between the air traffic controllers' unions and the DGAC, tensions have risen again over the air traffic control undergoing restructuringThis reform has been made necessary by the anticipated increase in traffic from 10% to 20% between now and 2030. Aimed at limiting delays and maintaining flight safety, this reform involves the closure of around twenty regional control towers out of a total of around 80, with a new distribution of controllers. The regrouping of personnel should make it possible to offset understaffing and respond better to traffic peaks, particularly during school holidays and weekends. The main towers in France will see their control systems modernised, and AI should even make its entry into future air-tracking programmes with the aim of making traffic flow more smoothly and reducing delays.
