The timing of the strike is particularly acute with Friday the final day of school in France before the summer holidays, with many families planning an early getaway.

France’s DGAC aviation authority said 933 flights departing from or arriving at French airports were cancelled on Thursday, some 10 percent of the total number of flights initially scheduled. The proportion of cancellations rose to 25 percent at the main airports in Paris.

But on Friday the situation risks being even more severe with the DGAC asking companies to cancel 40 percent of flights to deal with the strike.

French Prime Minister Francois Bayrou described the strike as “shocking”.

“Choosing the day when everyone goes on holiday to go on strike at air traffic control is taking the French hostage,” he told BFMTV.

– ‘Unacceptable’ –

The effects of the strike are not limited to France and the stoppage has triggered hundreds of cancellations of flights that fly over the country.

The European Airlines for Europe (A4E) association said 1,500 flights would be cancelled on Thursday and Friday in Europe, affecting 300,000 passengers.

“French air traffic control already delivers some of Europe’s worst delay figures and now the actions of a minority of French air traffic control workers will needlessly disrupt the holiday plans of thousands of people in France and across Europe,” said A4E chief Ourania Georgoutsakou.

The association said the strikes also caused “almost 500,000 minutes” in delays in Europe on Thursday on nearly 33,000 commercial flights.

Ryanair, Europe’s largest airline by passenger numbers, said it had cancelled more than 400 flights.

“These strikes are unacceptable,” said Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary, urging the EU Commission to protect such overflights by law in case of strikes.

“Of these 400 flight cancellations, 350 would not be cancelled if the EU protected overflights over France.”

At Paris airports, passengers stared at departure boards loaded with cancellations to assess their options.

“I came here on holiday to celebrate my wife’s 40th birthday, but now I’m stuck at Charles de Gaulle Airport,” said Julien Barthelemy, a passenger travelling to Marseille from New York, late Thursday.

“I’m currently on the waiting list for three flights and am waiting for a spot on the next one to become available.”

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© Agence France-Presse