The main airports in Paris have revealed that they will soon be canceling thousands of flights that have already been scheduled for the months of January and February.
The reason cited for these mass cancelations is the relevant authorities in the country decided to upgrade their air traffic control systems.
As of now, the French air traffic control functions on a system that was developed back in the 1970s.
To this day, the system uses paper strips when it wants to indicate that planes are coming towards the airport.
In the last couple of years, airport authorities throughout the country have regularly updated the system.
However, this is the first time that the government has revealed that it has scheduled a major overhaul at the start of 2024 in light of the rising air traffic across France.
Coming year
With the update in the air traffic control system, many experts believe that the first two months of the upcoming year could turn out to be very complicated for air travel passengers.
Over 2.5 million flights usually pass through the airspace in France, and a disruption of this kind could affect journeys throughout the continent.
As the work takes place, it has been estimated that no less than 16,500 flights are going to be canceled.
Between the 9th of January and the 14th of February, the government has advised airlines to cut down on the number of flight bookings they take.
Consequently, the airline authorities will be reducing the number of planes permitted to take off and land at the Charles de Gaulle in Paris, as well as various other airports.
Some of these other airports include Orly, Beauvais, and Le Bourget, which will be cutting down on the overall number of flights by 20%.
In this period, the new air traffic control system is going to be tested at the center in Athis Mons, which is the largest is France.
The center manages all the airports located throughout Beauvais and Paris.
Cancelations
As of now, the country has given airlines the freedom to decide which flights they will be canceling. They have also been advised to give high priority to long-distance routes.
According to Air France, it is being forced to cancel a large number of its medium and short-haul flights in January and February 2024.
Consequently, more than 4,200 flights have been determined to be canceled by the entire Air France-KLM group.
In order to minimize the impact on air travel passengers, the airline group has already made announcements regarding cancelations.
Passengers have also been informed of these changes and offered transfers to different flights taking place on the same day.
Air traffic control systems
More than €1 billion has been invested in improving the air traffic control systems in France in order to operate more efficiently and handle a higher number of flights.
According to Florian Guillermet, the director of the Services de la Navigation aerienne (DNSA) stated that it is crucial for the country to upgrade to a new generation system.
