If you plan on traveling to, from or within Europe — especially France — by airplane, your travel could be impacted by a strike by air traffic controllers which is scheduled for Tuesday, June 11, Wednesday, June 12, and Thursday, June 13, 2013.
This labor dispute is supposedly supported by several different unions in protest against the plans of the European Commission — the executive body of the European Union — to liberalize the services of air traffic control under the “Single European Sky” banner by which the design, management and regulation of airspace will be coordinated throughout the European Union.
The strike could possibly spread to Belgium, Austria, Italy, Czech Republic, Hungary, Bulgaria, Slovakia and the United Kingdom.
Additionally, a labor dispute by public transportation workers affecting local buses and trams and a strike by employees of Alitalia are both expected to occur on Friday, July 14, 2013.
The following is an official statement issued by Air France:
Several different unions representing French Air Traffic control under the French Civil Aviation Authority have called for industrial dispute from June 11 up to June 13, 2013.
Our flight schedule will be disrupted. We plan to transport all of our passengers booked on long-haul flights to/from Paris.
We are going to update flight schedule on medium-haul from Monday 10th of June according to the last instructions given by French Civil Aviation.
Be sure we are doing our utmost to limit the inconvenience this strike action may cause. However, delays and last minute cancellations are not excluded. We recommend that you check the schedule information of your flight, available in real time on this website under “Flight schedules” section, before going to the airport.
Moreover, we invite you to validate or update your contact details through the “View / modify your reservations” section in order to keep you posted about any disruption of your flight.
If you have an Air France ticket to/from one French airport and you plan to travel between 11th of June and 13th of June on a short or medium-haul flight, we recommend you postpone or anticipate your trip as far as is possible.
In order to do that, we offer you following commercial facilities available from now and up to and including June 16, 2013:
- If you wish to change your flight up to and including Sunday June 16, 2013, you may change your reservation in the same cabin at no extra cost.
- If you wish to change your flight between Monday June 17, 2013 and Sunday June 30, 2013 inclusive, the modification of your booking is possible free of charge at the same fare, according to availability, or by paying the difference with higher fare.
You may change your reservation under “View/modify your reservations” section or on our mobile website in the “Manage my reservations” section.
- For any reservations postponed from the 30 June 2013 onwards, to change destination, departure airport or cancel your reservation, you may obtain a non refundable voucher for an AIR FRANCE or KLM flight with one year validity. We invite you to contact your usual point of sales.
- If your flight is cancelled or delayed by more than 5 hours and the rebooking solutions are not convenient to you or if you prefer to cancel your trip, you may request a refund with the exclusion of service fees. If you bought your ticket at Air France offices or through AF web sites, please fill in the refund form available through “View/Modify your reservations” section.
Air France thanks you for your understanding.
A “domino effect” could occur throughout commercial aviation in Europe — so even though France and Italy may not be in your itinerary and you plan on traveling by airplane in Europe this week, please be sure to check with the carrier operating your flight before you depart.
