French air-traffic controllers who joined a day of action in the public sector caused havoc to travel schedules today, forcing the cancellation of nearly 90 percent of all flights in France.
With the civil aviation authority DGAC assuring only a minimum level of service, Air France axed most of its short- and medium-haul flights and other airlines followed suit.
Many flights between Ireland and Paris have also been cancelled until tomorrow morning.
The DGAC said that of 4,300 planned flights only 500 were sure to go ahead as a result of the strike, which was set to last till 5.30 a.m. tomorrow.
In Paris, the two main airports Roissy-Charles de Gaulle and Orly were operating at about one fifth of capacity.
The strike was called by two unions in support of a day of demonstrations in France by public sector workers. The main controllers' union SNCTA did not call for a work stoppage and said the disruption caused was out of all proportion to the number of strikers.
Meanwhile, transport around the country was sporadically affected as a result of the public sector protest, which is to culminate in a march through Paris later today, but there was no widespread disruption.
In Paris, four metro lines were experiencing delays, but the bus and RER regional transport system were more or less normal.
In the southern city of Marseille only five per cent of bus services were operating, while the metro system was at half capacity, and in Lyon in southeastern France, half the city's buses were running normally and the metro was unaffected.
The action came as a strike by truck drivers in pursuit of a pay-claim appeared to be petering out, though two unions said they had not abandoned their campaign and a few scattered roadblocks were set up today.
Led off by railway workers, today's march in Paris was expected to draw up to 100,000 people and was seen as a show of strength by trade unions ahead of a series of tough negotiations with the government, notably over civil service pensions, job cuts and privatisation.
AFP