A strike at a major airport in Paris on Thursday landed a quarter of the flight, closed the runway, delayed passengers and exacerbated the turmoil.
Some European airports are struggling to cope with the flow of passengers due to staff shortages as the travel industry recovers from the coronavirus pandemic.
Approximately 100 flights at Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport were abandoned Thursday morning after workers went on strike to demand higher wages.
Airport operator ADP said two of the airport’s four runways were closed between 7 am and 2 pm (Greenwich Mean Time 0500-1200) due to a firefighter strike, following safety procedures. ..
Passengers experienced an average delay of 30 to 45 minutes. Air France, the main operator of the hub, said delays would affect some of its long haul flights.
ADP said it expects the delay to last all day.
Approximately 800 strike workers protested outside the airport, demanding a € 300 ($ 320) increase in staff shortages due to the pandemic and staff cuts over the next few years.
Oumar Aw, who works for an Air France subcontractor, said:
ADP, whose staff have reduced wages to survive the coronavirus crisis, said salary negotiations with trade unions will begin on June 14.
Lufthansa is also facing a problem
German domestic airline Lufthansa also said Thursday that it would cancel hundreds of flights during the summer vacation due to staff shortages as the industry is recovering from a pandemic.
The company said in a statement that the mitigation of the coronavirus outbreak saw a “surge in demand.” This is “good news after the most serious crisis in the aviation industry,” he said.
However, “infrastructure has not been fully restored” has caused “bottleneck and staff shortages” in Europe, which has hit airports, ground services, air traffic control and airlines.
As a result, Lufthansa said it had abandoned 900 German and European flights in July at hub airports in Frankfurt and Munich on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. This is about 5 percent of the regular weekend capacity.
Its airline, Eurowings, arranged “hundreds of flights” in July.
According to the company, passengers who have already booked a flight will be notified and the schedule will be changed.
He added that he is asking customers to address potential delays at the airport, use digital services as much as possible, and allow sufficient time to reduce carry-on baggage.
Lufthansa CEO Carsten Spohr said last month that airlines forecast a record summer for tourism, with the latest data showing the number of passengers bounced off the coronavirus pandemic.
Lufthansa’s flight passenger numbers increased from 3 million in 2021, when travel bans were tightened in many markets, to 13 million, “more than quadrupled” in the first quarter.
Impact on Luxembourg
The 11:00 am Luxair flight to the Paris CDG was canceled today on Thursday, June 9th, but it is unknown at this time whether it was due to a strike in Paris. The flight arriving from the airport, which was scheduled to land at 1:50 pm, was also canceled. The latest flight status information can be found on the Luxembourg Airport website.
Like other major European airports, Findel is currently struggling to keep up with the flow of passengers. This means that people can continue to face long wait times during the summer. Please check this out for details.
