Overview

• France’s largest controllers’ union SNCTA plans a strike from the morning of 7 October until the morning of 10 October over pay and working conditions.
• Ryanair says it expects to cancel about 600 flights across the first two days, affecting roughly 100,000 passengers and costing around £20m.
• The action will disrupt many services that transit French airspace between other countries, with routes to Spain, Italy and Greece particularly exposed and other airlines likely to be affected.
• Airlines advise passengers to monitor their flight status, especially within 48 hours of departure, with limited compensation likely as ATC strikes are typically treated as extraordinary circumstances.
• Eurocontrol reports ATC staffing shortfalls of 10–20% in parts of Europe, while the UK Department for Transport notes airspace sovereignty, underscoring tensions over proposals to protect overflights at EU level.