Chaos as Ryanair cancels flights to France

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Source:unison.ie/irish

Chaos as Ryanair cancels flights to France

by Shane Hickey

THE travel plans of thousands of people were thrown into chaos last night after Ryanair cancelled all its flights to France.

Aer Lingus also warned passengers to expect delays due to a general strike of government and trade union workers in France.

It is the second major strike in a week by French workers and is set to cause major disruption to passengers.

Last night, Ryanair said it was cancelling five flights from Dublin and Shannon to Paris, Biarritz and Nantes.

The airline has also cancelled return flights from the French airports to Ireland.

In a statement, Ryanair said it was forced to cancel the flights due to the action by government and trade union workers in France.

Customers can rebook the flights for free or they can get a refund, it said.

A Ryanair spokesperson said the airline was cancelling all flights "in the best interest of our passengers".

She said the airline had got details of the strike yesterday evening and felt "forced" to cancel the flights.

An Aer Lingus spokesperson said the airline was expecting delays but anticipated running a full schedule. She said the strike could also affect Aer Lingus flights which were using French air space but landing elsewhere.

Meanwhile, France's tourism minister said he was "crossing his fingers" that the crisis over a new jobs law will end soon to avoid damaging the country's position as the world's number one tourist destination.

"If the crisis continues into high season, it is clear that would cause many problems for us," Leon Bertrand said.

"We are crossing our fingers that this will end soon - by the end of this week, at the latest."

Mr Bertrand and tour operators said the violent protests in France were scaring some foreign visitors away.