Air traffic controllers strike cut Paris flights by 20%

Flights in France's main airports were disrupted on Thursday as air traffic controllers went on strike over cost cuts and pan-European safety rules. In a statement posted on its website, the French Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGAC) asked airlines operating services to and from the three Paris-region airports, namely Charles de Gaulle, Orly and Beauvais, to reduce flights by about 20 percent because of the strike. Passengers will face disruption across the country, the civil aviation authorities added, advising travelers to consult with their airlines for flight information. The strike was launched by the French air controllers unions in protest against the European Commission's plan to liberalize the sector and create a single airspace as they saw these projects "against the public service nature of this sector" and one of the consequences could be "a degradation of working conditions of workers," according to the leading union DGAC. Air workers in other European countries also joined the Paris strike in solidarity against the European safety and savings plan.