MORE than 16,000 flights are set to be cancelled in the first two months of 2024.
The cancellations will affect tourists travelling to and from France.
AlamyThousands of flights are set to be cancelled to and from a popular European hotspot next year[/caption]
AlamyImprovements being made on French ATC will result in 16,500 cancelled flights[/caption]
Air traffic control in France is to undergo a huge renovation of its systems, with many of the procedures remaining unchanged since the 1970s.
So from early 2024, the system will be updated to more modern systems.
Florian Guillermet, director of the Services de la Navigation aérienne (DNSA) who is in charge of air traffic control, said: “This new-generation air traffic control system is part of an ambitious technological modernisation of our systems, which has become crucial.”
To avoid being overloaded, they have confirmed that thousands of flights will have to be cancelled.
Between January 9 and February 14, French airports have been told to reduce the number of flights by 20 per cent.
This will affect major airports including Paris‘ Charles de Gaulle, Orly, Le Bourget and Beauvais airports by 20 per cent.
According to local media BFM, as many as 16,500 flights will be cancelled.
While long-haul flights are expected to remain relatively unaffected, short-haul and mid-haul will face the most cancellations.
Air France has confirmed that they had cancelled more than 4,200 flights, with passengers already alerted.
It is unclear how Brits will be affected, although budget airlines easyJet and Ryanair are expected to face some cancellations.
Sun Online Travel has contacted both of the airlines for comment.
Earlier this year, air traffic controllers across France went on strike, which saw hundreds of flights cancelled across the May Bank holiday.
More than 40,000 passengers were affected, not only flights in and out of France, but those flying overhead as well.
Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary described the situation as “completely unacceptable”.
And an air traffic control failure in the UK earlier this year caused widespread chaos across the country.
The UK’s National Air Traffic Services (Nats) later confirmed that a flight plan error resulted in the failure.
Air space across the country was forced to close down, resulting in thousands of cancelled flights, and only resumed 10 hours later.