Operations at Ajaccio Napoléon-Bonaparte (AJA) and Bastia-Poretta (BIA) airports were severely disrupted on Friday, 9 October, after pilots represented by the SNPL and SPAC unions walked off the job for eight days. According to strike-monitoring service Strike Tracker, the stoppage runs from 9 to 16 October and follows the collapse of wage talks on 8 October. Air Corsica—which operates more than 250 weekly services linking the island with Paris, Marseille, Nice, Lyon and Toulouse—said in a statement that only 30 % of its published schedule could be maintained on the first day, using volunteer crews and wet-leased aircraft. Business travellers who rely on the Public Service Obligation (PSO) routes between Corsica and the mainland are the hardest hit. The island’s chambers of commerce estimate that a one-day shutdown costs local exporters and the tourism sector up to €3 million in lost revenue. Companies have been scrambling to re-book clients on Air France’s limited services or on the overnight La Méridionale ferry from Marseille, though capacity remains tight because the walkout coincides with the autumn school holidays in parts of Europe. The industrial action underscores a broader labour climate in French aviation. Since January the sector has seen five pilot or cabin-crew disputes, reflecting high inflation and concerns about duty-time rostering as carriers rebuild capacity post-pandemic. HR and mobility managers should therefore check force-majeure clauses in travel policies and ensure employees hold flexible tickets whenever itineraries involve French carriers. From a legal perspective, passengers whose flights are cancelled are entitled to rerouting or a refund under EU Regulation 261/2004; however, compensation payments do not apply when the strike is called by a union representing the operating carrier’s own workforce. Travellers should retain boarding passes and airline correspondence to speed up any refund claims. Looking ahead, the Ministry of Transport has urged both sides to accept binding arbitration if the stoppage extends beyond 16 October, warning that Paris could temporarily re-allocate PSO slots to competing airlines to guarantee minimum territorial continuity.
Source: Strike Tracker
