France flights back to normal after strike

Aer Lingus, Ryanair and Air France have said flights from Ireland to France will operate on normal schedules today.

Aer Lingus, Ryanair and Air France have said flights from Ireland to France will operate on normal schedules today.

The three airlines were forced to cancel a total of 34 flights to and from Paris yesterday as a result of the 36-hour strike by French air-traffic controllers. "We booked people due to travel on Tuesday either on a Monday flight or on a flight today, free of charge," an Aer Lingus spokeswoman said.

She added that Aer Lingus had done its best to reroute passengers despite the fact that the strike was outside its control.

The French air-traffic controllers' strike is expected to have cost Aer Lingus revenue in lost ticket sales. A Ryanair spokesman confirmed that every Ryanair flight to and from Ireland and France had been cancelled but flights would return to normal today. Passengers were offered the chance to change tickets or get a refund.

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The spokesman said it was "impossible to say" if the company had incurred losses due to the French strike.

Air France passengers bound for France were offered the choice of rebooking for a flight today or extending their tickets for one month. A spokeswoman said that if passengers were unhappy they could also get a refund.

The problem with air-traffic controller strikes was that "you never know which flights are going be affected", she said. "Sometimes they only cancel domestic flights."

Certain long-haul flights from France to the US operated as normal despite the strike.