Cancelled flights: French ATC stikes see hundreds of flights disrupted
July 3, 2025
A nationwide two-day strike by French air traffic controllers (ATC) has seen air travel disrupted and cancelled flights to and from French airports.
According to Cirium, so far today, 463 scheduled arrivals to France have been cancelled, representing around 22% of inbound flights.
Approximately 22% of outbound flights have also been cancelled, with some 455 departures no longer taking place.
The UK market has been particularly severely affected, with around 31% of inbound and outbound services removed.
As well as flight cancellations into French airports, wider disruption is being observed as overflights using French airspace are being affected. This is translating into widespread delays and disruptions to schedules.
The airlines with the most flight cancellations
Ryanair has cancelled around 170 flights between 3 – 4 July, affecting over 30,000 passengers. These affect both flights to and from France and those transiting French airspace.
Chief executive Michael O’Leary described the strike as ‘recreational,’ saying that, “It makes no sense and is abundantly unfair on EU passengers and families going on holidays.”
Fellow low-cost airline easyJet has cancelled 274 flights over the two-day period, including 22 UK to France flights on 3 July and a further 38 on 4 July.
Air France worked hard to adapt its schedule ahead of the disruption, and has managed to keep its cancellations on 3 July to around 10% of its schedule. However, 129 flights, 20% of its capacity, have been delayed, although long-haul services remain mostly intact.
British Airways deployed larger aircraft to preserve its capacity and has managed to keep cancellations down to just 2% of its schedule. However, around 17% of flights have been delayed.
Other airlines, including Lufthansa, Luxair and Wizz, are reporting potential delays or schedule changes, particularly on the routes that normally transit French airspace.
Which airports are seeing the biggest disruption?
The French Civil Aviation Authority (DGAC) had asked airlines to proactively reduce flights on Thursday and Friday to manage the strike action.
It requested airlines to forgo half of all flights to Nice, and more than half of the Corsica flights into Bastia and Calvi. A 30% reduction was requested at Lyon, Marseille, Montpellier, Ajaccio and Figari, and 25% of flights to and from Paris airports.
“Despite these preventative measures, disturbances and significant delays are to be expected at all French airports,” the DGCA said.
Today’s data shows 68 flight cancellations at Nice, 24 in Marseille and 19 in Lyon. Paris Charles de Gaulle, a key connecting hub for worldwide flights, had 69 flights cancelled by midday local time.
Why are French ATC striking?
French air traffic controllers are on strike over a mix of staffing, structural and reform-related grievances. The ATC union, UNSA-ICNA, says there is a chronic lack of personnel to safely manage air traffic.
Adding to this, the union says the equipment ATCs use is outdated, and that the management culture is ‘toxic.’
“We’ve warned the government repeatedly that without faster hiring and better planning, we’d reach a breaking point,” the union stated in a recent release. “The DGAC is failing to modernise the tools that are essential to air traffic controllers, even though it continues to promise that all necessary resources are being made available.”
These complaints mirror similar issues raised in the USA, where failures of communication systems led to massive delays and disruption at Newark Liberty Airport.
