Pension strike to hit Irish flights to France and Spain

THOUSANDS of flights across Europe will once again be grounded by French air-traffic controllers today, this time as the controllers join workers in protesting over pension reform.

Aer Lingus has been forced to cancel its 11am flight from Dublin to Charles De Gaulle Airport and the return flight to Dublin at 2.25pm.

An airline spokesman said passengers had been sent emails and texts offering them earlier or later flights.

Ryanair said it had cancelled 250 flights, including eight flights between Dublin and Paris Beauvais, Rodez (France), Nice and Madrid.

A further two flights between Shannon and Paris are also cancelled.

The airline called for the European Commission to remove the ‘right to strike’ from essential services such as air traffic control and to reform passenger rights legislation which, it said, was unfit for purpose.

“So far in 2010 Ryanair has been forced to cancel 1,650 flights and delay over 12,000 other flights, disrupting over 2.5m passengers, as a direct result of Belgian, French and Spanish ATC strikes and work to rules,” it said.

Train drivers have also launched an open-ended strike over the pension reform plan, expected to be passed by the weekend.