EasyJet and Ryanair cancel hundreds of flights – see if yours are affected

BOTH Ryanair and easyJet have cancelled flights this week with airport strikes causing problems once again.

Airlines are being told to halve their flight schedules this Friday due to air traffic controllers walking out across France.

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Ryanair has had to cancel 420 flights this weekend, while easyJet has confirmed they will also ground flights although have not confirmed how many.

The walk outs will not only halt flights to and from France, but also those flying over France too, with the ATCs required to help guide air traffic overhead.

Therefore, flights to Spain, Italy and other nations are expected to be among those affected.

The strike is set to take place from 6am on Friday until 6am on Saturday with the action called by the SNCTA union, the largest among controllers.

France’s DGAC aviation authority said the strikes will affect the entire country.

They said in a statement: “Cancellations and significant delays are to be expected.”

They told passengers to “delay your journey if possible and to get in touch with your airline”.

Ryanair has called on the EU to intervene, as they expect 80,000 people to be affected by the cancellations.

A spokesperson said: “It is inexplicable that flights which overfly France are disrupted by French ATC strikes yet domestic French flights are protected by minimum service laws.

“The European Union must step in and protect overflights so that passengers who are travelling between Spain, Italy, Ireland, Germany, etc. are not disrupted just because they fly over France while French ATC unions strike.”

Meanwhile, easyJet has urged passengers to check the status of their flights online before travelling.

A spokesperson said: “Due to national air traffic control strike action in France this Friday 16 September affecting all French airports and airspace, airlines operating to and from French airports have been requested by the French authorities DGAC to make some cancellations on Friday 16 September.

“As a result we expect some disruption to our French flying programme as well as on routes that operate via French airspace.

“We will be contacting any impacted customers in advance via SMS and email and providing options to change their flight for free or receive a refund.

“We advise all customers travelling on Friday 16 September to check the status of their flights on our Flight Tracker on the mobile app or website at easyjet.com/en/flight-tracker for live updates.

“While this is outside of our control, we would like to apologise to our customers for any inconvenience they may experience as a result of the strike action.”

The strikes aren’t the only thing affecting flights this week.

Edinburgh Airport closed its airspace earlier this week after the Queen’s coffin was flown from Scotland to London following the death of Her Majesty.

And Heathrow Airport confirmed on Wednesday that a number of flights would be delayed during the Queen’s procession.

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