Hundreds of Flights in France Canceled as Air Traffic Control Workers Strike

Air traffic controllers went on strike on Friday, causing airlines to cancel flights.

The air traffic control union said that the lack of pay increases was unjust. The union said that rising inflation was one of the reasons for the strike. There would be another strike starting in September.

By midday on Friday, more than 400 flights departing from or arriving to Paris Charles de Gaulle and Paris Orly airports had been canceled, and about 200 had been delayed. A number of flights to and from Lyon, Nice, Marseille, Bordeaux and Toulouse had been canceled or delayed.

The airline said in a statement on Thursday that it would be canceling hundreds of flights on Friday due to the strike. Neal McMahon, the airline's operations director, called on the EU to take steps to prevent strikes from disrupting the plans of travelers, noting that flights departing from countries outside of France with routes in French airspace had also been disrupted.

Mr. McMahon wants the E.U. to protect European passengers from being held to ransom by the French ATC union.

As energy prices have gone up and the cost of living has gone up, strikes have become more frequent in Europe, with workers demanding better wages. Since the start of the year, France's annual rate of inflation has doubled, making it one of the lowest in the eurozone. The government said this week that it would cap energy price increases at 15 percent, but power prices will still be higher than they are currently.