BA and easyJet demand warnings for air traffic control strikes as half a million passengers suffer flight chaos

'We are at the mercy of unreasonable and disproportionate industrial action,' says easyJet boss Carolyn McCall

Carolyn McCall, chief executive of easyJet (Getty)

As an estimated half-million passengers today endured cancelled and delayed flights due to another French air-traffic control strike, Europe’s biggest airlines have demanded advance notice of industrial action.

At a conference in Brussels, the Airlines for Europe (A4E) group said air-traffic control strikes in the past five years had affected 167 days and cost €9.5bn (£7.9bn).

Carolyn McCall, Chair of A4E and Chief Executive of easyJet, said: “You cannot put a loss on people missing weddings, holidays, important business meetings.

“We are at the mercy of unreasonable and disproportionate industrial action.”

A4E represents two-thirds of the continent's aviation industry by passenger numbers. The organisation is asking for three weeks’ notice of strike action, so airlines can warn passengers and reschedule flights. The group is also asking Brussels to make it mandatory for individual air-traffic controllers to give 72 hours notice of their intention to stop work. That will allow resources to be more effectively managed, they say.

Willie Walsh, Chief Executive of IAG – which owns British Airways, Aer Lingus and Iberia – said: “The figures are shocking. We have just 15,000 people impacting on an industry that moves 900 million people a year. If this was a company that went out of business, it would be the only subject the world would be talking about.”

Mr Walsh also said that the costs of providing passenger care under European passenger-rights rules should be borne by the air-traffic providers, rather than the airlines.

In the event of a cancellation, European airlines are obliged to provide accommodation and meals until they can get the passenger to his or her destination.

But the notion that national air-traffic providers would pick up the bill for passenger care was dismissed by a well-placed source, who said: “The main reason we’re seeing these strikes is because of cost-cutting by ANSPs [air-traffic providers]. If they are hit financially then the number of strikes could rise.”

On Tuesday, British Airways cancelled more than 40 flights, mainly to and from Heathrow, serving France, Spain, Switzerland and Italy. From Gatwick, easyJet cancelled services to Biarritz, Bologna, Montpelier, Naples, Toulouse and Valencia. Across its network, Ryanair cancelled a total of 170 departures, affecting 30,000 passengers. Services from Stansted were particularly hard hit.