France’s strike-prone and ill-equipped air traffic controllers are responsible for a third of all delays in the skies over Europe, a senate report concluded yesterday, reports The Telegraph.
The delays are costing airlines €300 million (£263m) per year it found.
The damning report by the senate’s finance committee came after weeks of delays due to industrial action by Gallic controllers, forcing some planes to skirt the country to shorten flight times.
According to the report, between 2004 and 2016, France’s air traffic controllers were on strike 254 days. That placed them far ahead of second-placed Greece, on only 46 days of stoppages. In third place came Italy 37 with Germany in fourth, according to the report seen by Le Parisien.
"Every day of a strike in France has a much bigger impact on European traffic than (strikes) in other European countries", the report's author, senator Vincent Capo-Canellas, noted after a six months study of the sector.
The report put the French traffic controllers’ penchant for strikes to the fact that they were quick to down tools both when unhappy with job conditions but also out of support for fellow state sector workers.
The main union, UASC-CGT, said the comparison was unfair. “Switzerland posts less strike days but it also has far less controllers and much less traffic over there,” it said.
As well as frequent strikes, France is also in pole position for delays, linked to outdated equipment, the report said. "Our country is responsible for 33 percent of delays due to air traffic control in Europe," said Mr Capo-Canellas.
"In France, the control equipment is outdated,” he said, adding that maintenance costs come to €136 million euros per year.