France air traffic controller strike hits Ryanair, Easyjet

French air traffic control (ATC) unions will join fellow public sector workers in industrial action from Monday evening, sending shares in airline companies lower in London.

French ATC unions confirmed they will go on strike from 1900 Paris time on Monday until 0600 on on Wednesday 27 January.

Budget airline Ryanair said the strike will result in thousands of flights being cancelled and hundreds of thousands of consumers having their flights cancelled or delayed.

Ryanair added that this was the 40th ATC strike in France since 2009.

The airports affected will be Charles De Gaulle, Bordeaux-Merignac, Beauvais-Tille, Lyon-Saint-Exupery, Marseille Provence, Nantes Atlantique, Nice Cote d'Azur, Orly and Toulouse Blagnac.

“Like all airlines, our flights to and from French airports, as well as those flying in French airspace, might be affected," Easyjet said in statement.

“We are doing everything possible to minimise the impact of the strike on our customers, and will communicate to affected customers directly via SMS on the details provided at the time of booking.

Airlines warned that public transport services might be affected by the strike, with the likelihood that taxi drivers might block access roads to some airports.

Shares in Ryanair dived 1.7% to €14.2 by 1530 GMT on Monday, while EasyJet's lost the day's earlier gains and were down 0.2% at 1,637.47 at the same time.