Little impact as French aviation strike kicks off

Paris: French airports announced some cancellations and delays on the first day of a four-day strike by aviation workers yesterday but flight disruptions were limited.

At Paris' Charles de Gaulle and Orly airports, officials said airlines had on Sunday in a preventive move cancelled 126 of 1,190 flights scheduled for yesterday.

An AFP reporter at Charles de Gaulle, a global aviation hub, said some flights had also been cancelled on the spot, including Air France flights to Geneva, Naples, Istanbul and Rio.

Budget airline easyJet had also cancelled five morning departures.

Leading French carrier Air France insisted the effects of the strike would be limited, promising to run more than 80 per cent of its short- and medium-haul flights and more than 85 per cent of its long-haul flights.

Air France said at mid-day that it had made unscheduled cancellations of 20 percent of its short- and medium-haul flights.

Aviation workers including pilots, flight attendants and ground staff voted on Friday to launch a nationwide strike between February 6 and 9.

The unions are protesting a draft law that will require aviation workers to individually give 48 hours notice before taking strike action, saying it limits labour rights.

The bill was approved by France's lower house last month and is being studied in the Senate.

The strike also appeared to be having little impact at other French airports.

But labour leaders vowed the strike would pick up steam, with Yves Deshayes, the head of the SNPL pilots' union, saying "the mobilisation will reach a crescendo" in the coming days.

Hundreds of activists rallied in support of the strike at Charles de Gaulle and Orly yesterday.

Transport Minister Thierry Mariani yesterday said the government would not drop its plans for the law, which he said was aimed at protecting "passengers' rights".

"We will go all the way. This is necessary and that is something the French people understand," he said on RTL radio.