Euro 2016: Travel chaos looms as French pilots call a strike for 11-14 June
French pilots could be set to throw thousands of football fans' travel plans into chaos, after calling a strike for 11-14 June – coinciding with the start of the 2016 UEFA European Championship.
Pilots working for Air France are planning to take industrial action over a pay dispute, according to union Spaf – which represents around one quarter of the pilots working at the flag carrier.
The strike will begin one day after the Euro 2016 tournament begins on 10 June. The championship is expected to draw 1.5m foreign fans to France.
News of the pilots' strike comes as French rail travellers faced disruption today, with rail services halved due to unrelated action being taken by the CGT union. Rail workers were striking in protest against planned labour reforms.
French President Francois Hollande has rejected demands to scrap a bill the CGT says will undermine labour protection by giving companies more scope to set in-house deals on pay and terms. His government says the reform is necessary to help combat an unemployment rate of 10 per cent.
The looming travel chaos will be an unwelcome aspect of an already fraught tournament – earlier this month security fears were raised after France's intelligence chief warned that Islamic State terrorists could be planning a series of bomb attacks.