Hundreds of Paris airport flights canceled Tuesday because of air traffic controllers strike

Hundreds of Paris flights canceled Tuesday

PARIS — Hundreds of flights at Paris’ two main airports will be canceled Tuesday at the start of a four-day strike by air traffic controllers, the French civil aviation authority said.

The DGAC aviation authority ordered airlines to cancel 50 percent of flights at Orly and 25 percent of flights at Charles de Gaulle.

French carrier Air France said it would maintain all of its long-haul flights during the strike, with the protest movement affecting only its routes within France and Europe.

The Union of French Airports said Monday that some airports in provincial cities, including Pau, Biarritz, Grenoble, La Rochelle and Chambery, were to shut down amid the strike.

Five unions of air traffic controllers called the four-day strike to protest conditions of plans to integrate European air traffic control. French workers fear that will mean a loss of jobs and civil servant benefits.

During a similar strike last month, half of flights at Orly airport and 15 percent of flights at Charles de Gaulle were canceled, and other French airports also experienced cancellations.

Charles de Gaulle airport usually sees about 1,000 flights and up to 200,000 passengers a day, while Orly sees about 300 flights and up to 100,000 passengers, according to airport officials.