Next Tuesday there will be a strike at Basel-Mulhouse Airport. Air traffic controllers and electrical engineers fear a planned restructuring of technical maintenance service at the flight control center at Euro Airport. The “Basler Zeitung” writes that the maintenance service should in the future be subordinated to the technical service in Strasbourg.
“The unions object to such a withdrawal of the French state from an airport of this size,” the unions criticize. With nine million passengers a year, Mulhouse is a major airport in northeastern France. Also, Euro-Airport is popular with many Swiss passengers, not just in the Basel region.
bottlenecks in the summer
Problem: Unions fear that under the Strasbourg regime, maintenance work at Mulhouse can no longer be run with the same priority and flight operations may be delayed.
So air traffic controllers and maintenance workers themselves are now the ones who could cause delays in the flight schedule with their next Tuesday’s strike. But this is not only about the planned redevelopment, there is also a shortage of personnel. “Especially in the summer, air traffic controllers have to combine control positions for a single employee to do the job of several employees,” the unions accuse. In addition, in order for the workload to remain at an acceptable level, the planes need to delay their departure and landing times,” he said.
There may be restrictions
It is still clear how much the 8 November strike will affect flight operations. After all: French air traffic control guaranteed a minimum number of employees. “The strike will lead to regulations, but not in advance to flight cancellations,” said Anne Legarde, in charge of communications at Euro Airport at BaZ.
Still: if you plan to leave Basel next Tuesday, you should inquire about changes in the flight schedule in time and maybe be at the airport a little earlier. (co)