Strikes across Europe have led to a spike in flight cancellations, delays and driven down bookings to cities like Paris, data from travel firms show, despite efforts by airlines to avoid a repeat of last year's disruptions.
Flight cancellations and delays of over three hours in Europe were up over 2022 and 2019 over the Easter holiday weekend from April 5-11, most markedly in France and Britain, according to data from flight claim management firm AirHelp.
"The situation quickly deteriorated as France was sinking into the pension reform crisis. Charles de Gaulle airport is negatively affected, both as a destination and as a hub," said Olivier Ponti, VP of Insights at travel data firm ForwardKeys.
In France, where air traffic control staff were on strike in recent weeks, 62% of flights were on time, compared with 75% in 2022 and 76% in 2019 before the pandemic brought international travel to a standstill, Airhelp data shared with Reuters showed.
Some 33,300 flights were cancelled this year over Easter, compared with 7,800 last year, while 9,000 flights were delayed by more than three hours, compared to 6,800 last year.
More about:
