No flight cancellations reported as Air France strike starts

No Air France flights were cancelled on Friday morning despite a strike by personnel protesting at a restructuring plan, Paris airport sources said. Rail traffic was back to normal as a strike by railway workers came to an end.

Flickr/caribb

As one transport strike ended, another began in France Friday. But the strike called by Air France’s most influential trade union, CGT, appeared to be having little effect thanks to preparations by management.

There were no flight cancellations or delays at the start of the flying day in Paris’s Charles De Gaulle and Orly airports, newswires report.

If flights are disrupted later in the day, passengers will be informed by telephone, SMS or email, Air France management has promised.

The company was prepared partly thanks to a law passed under previous President Nicolas Sarkozy that obliged transport workers to declare their intention of striking 48 hours before the action begins.

The repeal of that law is one of the strike’s demands, although its main target is a restructuring plan that will slash 10 per cent of jobs at the company.

The strike is offficially due to end on at midnight Monday but could be prolonged.

A strike on the national rail network, the SNCF, ended Friday morning with a return to normal reported across the country.

Unions claim that 30 per cent of the workforce stopped work on Thursday. Management puts the figure at 23 per cent.