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Airlines call for action to limit impact of ATC strikes
Airline body IATA has called on European governments to ensure flights can still operate despite Air Traffic Control strikes.
It said the current frequency of disputes is ‘totally unacceptable’ and have already caused more than 3,000 cancellations this year.
The call came as French ATC workers took industrial action for the 14th this year, leading to the cancellation of dozens of flights.
"Every hour wasted impacts European productivity as businesses are disrupted," said IATA European regional vice president Rafael Schvartzman.
"And it hurts holidaymakers when plans need to be altered. The time has come for European governments to work together to ensure the essential service of air traffic control is able to continue even during strikes."
Schvartzman also urged ATC workers to be more open to industry reform, saying they are ‘highly-compensated professionals in a dynamic industry’.
"They should be embracing reforms that are critical to delivering the safety, capacity, cost and environmental improvements European air travelers deserve," he said.
IATA said a starting point would be for each country to develop its own national airspace strategy, in consultation with airlines, which contains provisions for ensuring service continuity during periods of industrial action or equipment failure.
Meanwhile, the European airline lobbying group Airlines4Europe (A4E) also said action needs to be taken to reduce the impact of ATC strikes.
"Although we are not questioning the individual right of workers to take industrial action, the demands of increasingly mobile European citizens and businesses cannot be taken hostage by localized industrial action," said MD Thomas Reynaert.
"It is about time to minimise the impact of these strike actions. We cannot allow 15,000 air traffic controllers restricting the rights of millions of European travellers."
Bev
Editor in chief Bev Fearis has been a travel journalist for 25 years. She started her career at Travel Weekly, where she became deputy news editor, before joining Business Traveller as deputy editor and launching the magazine’s website. She has also written travel features, news and expert comment for the Guardian, Observer, Times, Telegraph, Boundless and other consumer titles and was named one of the top 50 UK travel journalists by the Press Gazette.
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