Strike by French air-traffic staff hits Dublin route

Flights between France and Ireland will be cancelled today because of a strike by air-traffic controllers in France.

Aer Lingus has cancelled all five of the Dublin-Paris flights scheduled for today and also its flights from Cork and Shannon to Paris Charles de Gaulle.

Ryanair was waiting last night to see if the strike would go ahead, but was acting on the basis that the strike was "highly likely".

An airline spokeswoman said its flights to Beauvais would be affected if the strike proceeded, and could result in the cancellation of flights to Paris today.

The strike, which is due to begin at 5 a.m., has been called by French controllers in protest at European Union plans which they claim will lead to the privatisation of their jobs.

Aer Lingus has arranged an extra flight tomorrow from Dublin to cater for people who wish to reschedule the flight they booked for today. An airline spokesman said everything possible would be done to accommodate passengers who wished to change flights.

"Some passengers have booked flights a few days later, and others have cancelled their flights altogether. We're being flexible and accommodating people as best we can," the spokesman said.

Ryanair has advised passengers wishing to change their travel plans to contact Ryanair Direct on 01-6097851. "While flights may be heavily booked, the airline will accommodate passengers wherever possible," a spokeswoman said.

British airlines have warned that delays may occur to other routes which fly into French airspace and that disruptions could persist tomorrow as flights get back to normal.

British Airways predicts that about half of its services flying over France tomorrow may be delayed. The airline is hoping to have some customers flying from Britain transferred to Eurostar and to get larger aircraft to fly to destinations near France, allowing them to transfer people overland.

Air France has cancelled 85 per cent of its internal flights and services on medium-haul European routes and 40 per cent of its longhaul flights. Its subsidiary, Air Liberte, has cancelled over 80 per cent of its domestic flights.

The French state railway, SNCF, will add extra cars to high-speed TGV trains to cope with demand.