Travelers arrive on foot at Roissy-Charles de Gaulle airport, July 1
Highlights
- Aviation authorities canceled 17 per cent of flights out of the Paris airports Friday morning
- Another 14 per cent were canceled Saturday
- Passengers on canceled flights were alerted days ahead of their flights
Paris airport witnessed huge chaos on Saturday (local time) after a technical breakdown left at least 1,500 bags stuck. According to the details, Paris’ Charles de Gaulle airport suffered a technical malfunction that caused 15 flights to depart without luggage, leaving about 1,500 bags on the ground, the airport operating company said.
The airport handled about 1,300 flights overall Friday, the operator said.
Union activists said many more passengers flew without their bags, apparently because of knock-on effects from the original breakdown.
It came as airport workers are on strike at French airports to demand more hiring and more pay to keep up with high global inflation. Because of the strike, aviation authorities canceled 17 per cent of flights out of the Paris airports Friday morning, and another 14 per cent were canceled Saturday.
Passengers on canceled flights were alerted days ahead of their flights.
The scene at Charles de Gaulle on Saturday was busy but typical for the first weekend in July, when France’s summer travel season kicks off.
Unions plan to continue striking Sunday but no flights have been canceled so far. They have threatened to renew the strike next weekend if negotiations with company management don’t succeed in finding a compromise.
Until now, French airports had been largely spared the chaos seen recently at airports in London, Amsterdam and some other European and US cities.
Airlines and airports that slashed jobs during the depths of the COVID-19 crisis are struggling to keep up with soaring demand as travel resurges after two years of virus restrictions.
(With inputs from AP)
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