Travellers in France face disruptions on Tuesday as disgruntled air traffic controllers and taxi drivers go on strike alongside civil servants upset over shrinking purchasing power, reports FRANCE 24.
The French civil aviation authority DGAC called Monday on airlines to cancel one in five flights as a preventive measure ahead of the air traffic controllers' strike.
Air France said it would operate all of its long-haul flights and more than 80 percent of its short- and medium-haul flights in France and elsewhere in Europe, but that "last-minute delays or cancellations cannot be ruled out."
Noting that the controllers' strike was coinciding with the taxi drivers' action, the airline warned its passengers that access to Paris's Charles de Gaulle and Orly airports, as well as those of Toulouse, Marseille and Bordeaux, could be "greatly disrupted".
easyJet said it had cancelled 35 flights, mainly within France but also to or from Switzerland, Italy and Spain.
The controllers' unions want to be exempted from proposed changes to how salaries are calculated, which they say would hurt their purchasing power.
They also denounce the loss of some 1,000 jobs in less than 10 years.
Taxi drivers meanwhile have a separate complaint -- competition from taxi app company Uber and other non-licensed private hire cabs.
Uber continued to run the low-cost UberPOP service in France for several months following a ban imposed in January 2015, leading to a spate of violent protests by taxi unions in June.
Protesters blocked access to airports, train stations and major roads, torched cars and attacked several Uber drivers and passengers.