France set for air travel chaos after train strike

French air traffic controllers have announced a strike for next week, a move that will cause more travel chaos amid an ongoing rail protest across the country.

The two biggest air controllers unions, SNCTA and Unsa-ICNA, said Friday that they decided to strike for six days from June 23 and warned that the walk-out will cause a “heavy disruption” of flights.

The air traffic controllers are opposed to the government’s planned cuts between 2015 and 2019, arguing that the measures would threaten the “necessary performance and modernization needed to ensure an efficient air navigation service in France.”

In addition, the air traffic controllers say the cuts would lead to the liberalization and a “forced low-cost” ethos in air traffic.

The strike comes ahead of a June 30 deadline for France to present its five-year budget plans for the sector to the European Union.

The planned cuts are part of a European Commission plan, called Single Sky Europe, aimed at reducing air navigation costs by organizing airspace into functional blocks, according to traffic flows rather than national borders.

Meanwhile, a rail strike across France has entered its tenth day, marking the country’s longest industrial action in years.

The rail strike has disrupted domestic and international train services and affected thousands of passengers.

The rail workers stop work on June 10 in protest against a government proposed bill to reform the state-run railway system. The strikers argue that the planned reforms would lead to job losses and security concerns.