If you live in North America and are considering a trip to Europe for either business or vacation, good luck. Because of various factors, air travel from here to there is something of a mess.
FlightStas.com says that there were nearly 26,000 delays and about 3,400 flight cancellations in one week in Europe. That’s a greater number of cancellations than in North America and Asia combined.
"Thanks to a foul combination of strikes, airline failures, and a brutal winter that’s made Rome snowier than Moscow and Paris colder than Oslo, European business travel has slowed to a crawl," says Joe Brancatelli. He writes Portfolio.com’s business travel column, "Seat 2B."
Air France said earlier this week said he would cancel almost half its long-haul flights. The reason: a strike by French pilots, flight attendants and other workers. The airlineadvised passengers to postpone their trips until after Friday, reported the LA Times.
Flights at Charles de Gaulle Airport near Paris have been hardest hit by the strike, the newspaper said.
Aviation workers are striking over a proposed law that they say would affect their right to strike, according to media reports. The measure would require workers to provide 48 hours notice before a strike, CNN says..
If it’s a bad winter for travelers, it’s even worse for some residents.
"Eastern Europe remained in the grip of brutal cold and deep snows," reported CNN.
At least 250 people have already died across the region during the cold snap, with 135 of the dead in Ukraine.
Authorities there have set up an emergency hospital to deal with people suffering from cold-related conditions, and distributed 3,000 emergency relief tents across the country, they said. The tents are heated and can supply hot food and drinks to people with nowhere else to go.
"All of Europe wants to fly to Florida just now," one top executive of a major continental carrier told Brancatelli.. "But I just canceled my Miami departure because the aircraft is stuck in the snow."
More bad news from Europe involved the shutdown of two carriers, Malev of Hungary and Spanish-based Spanair.
The bad news goes on:
"Aer Lingus of Ireland is constantly at war with its unions, and, to be honest, no European carrier is totally at peace with its employees," says Brancatelli.
What happens next?
"It’ll probably get worse before it gets better," he says, citing the Czech and Greek governments looking to sell their national airlines, among other unsettling factors in the airline business.
By David Wilkening
