The carriers denounce a shortage of air controllers who could limit the time slots of the Parisian airport throughout the summer season.
by Guy Dutheil
A wind of contestation blows within the airlines, which preventively denounce a drop in forecasts for traffic at Orly airport. Pascal de Izaguirre, president of the National Aviation Federation and its professions, the most important Association of Air Transport in France, set foot in the dish. During an intervention on Tuesday, January 31, he declared himself “extremely surprised to learn with great delay that there is an insufficiency of air controllers” which could have a negative impact on the number of flights departing from Orly airport.
In practice, airlines should limit the number of their flights from the Paris platform mainly during the first hour of the morning, between 6 am and 7 am, from the start of the season summer, which begins in March. In fact, the airport should only authorize in this time slot 20 takeoff instead of 25, a reduction of 20 % of departures.
Questioned, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGAC) retorts that “there is no lack of air controllers”. On the contrary, it specifies: “The operational capacity of the Orly air navigation services remains at the same level for the summer season 2023 as the previous seasons.” “We expect confirmations” of the DGAC, delays Mr. de Izaguirre, interviewed, Friday February 3, by MO12345lemonde.
Recainese of activity
For the air transportation regulation organization, the problem is not the number of air controllers but the strong revival of companies’ activity since the exit of the pandemic. “The resumption of traffic is important on Parisian airports after the health crisis. Thus, in Orly, the companies that have planes based on the airport have already increased the number of departures scheduled for the first hour, 6 hours to 7 am, and plan to increase it again in the summer of 2023, “points the DGAC.
The targeted operators are low -cost companies, especially the most important, Transavia, Easyjet and Vueling, which have experienced strong growth in recent years. Their economic model requires them to take off their planes as soon as possible, at 6 am, to perform the most back and forth as possible during the day and return to Orly at 11:30 p.m. at the latest.
You should know that, in addition to the limitation to 250,000 flight slots per year, the Orly platform is also closed between 11:30 p.m. and 6 a.m., to protect the sleep of residents. Based in Orly, Transavia, a subsidiary of Air France which develops at high speed, does not want a reduction in flights. On the contrary, she points out that “morning and evening slots are important for companies based in Orly”.
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