European airlines have been forced to cancel many flights in the wake of a French air-traffic control (ATC) strike, which began on May 8 at 7pm and will continue until 6am on Friday 10 May.
Eurocontrol air movements are being restricted. All airlines serving Marseille, Lyon, Toulouse and Paris Orly have been told to reduce their schedules by 30% today, while overflights are to be cut by 50%.
Airlines for Europe (A4E), the Brussels-based pressure group, estimates 550 flights will be cancelled, impacting around 75,000 passengers.
Air France is operating all of its long-haul flights, but has cancelled 27% of short-haul departures. British Airways has been forced to cancel some flights but says it will be using
larger aircraft where possible to compensate.
EasyJet, which operates 65% of all of its flight through French airspace, has cancelled a total of 54 flights but warns others will be disrupted.