Strike Grounds European Air Travelers

Throughout Europe, airports were deserted and airplanes grounded after air traffic controllers in France and other nations went on strike Wednesday to protest a plan to dramatically reorganize the use of Europe's skies.

The massive strike, which began in France at 6 a.m., was expected to interrupt 7,700 flights there before ending at 11 p.m., the Civil Aviation Authority said.

That total includes flights that use French airspace but do not land or take off in France.

Apart from the full-day walkout in France, air traffic controllers were to observe less crippling work stoppages in Greece, Portugal, Italy, and Hungary, the authority said.

Air France said passengers could count on no more than 10 percent of its domestic and European flights but that 90 percent of its long-haul flights were to fly as scheduled.

British Airways said it had canceled all but four of its 126 flights in and out of France, affecting about 15,000 passengers. It also canceled 38 flights to Italy, Switzerland, Spain, Germany, Belgium and Luxembourg.

Heathrow, Britain's busiest airport, was unusually quiet Wednesday.

"I think people have seen it on the news and if their flights have been canceled, they've just not come," said Dal Gill, manager of a Boots pharmacy at the airport.

Germany's Lufthansa canceled 130 flights between airports in Germany and France, spokeswoman Sabine Hess said. Only 10 flights between France and Frankfurt were still running, with larger aircraft than usual to accommodate more passengers.

Sixty-seven flights were canceled at the airport in Frankfurt, continental Europe's biggest, said Robert Payne, a spokesman for the airport operator Fraport.

In Italy, air traffic controllers plan to strike for one hour, from 3 to 4 p.m. (1300 to 1400 GMT).

Alitalia canceled 50 flights, 48 international and two domestic, and rescheduled 100 flights, affecting about 8,000 passengers.

In Spain, delays or cancellations were reported in Barcelona, Malaga and Palma de Mallorca. Flights to France were canceled at three Swiss airports — Zurich, Geneva and Basel, officials there said.

Portugal's national airline TAP said 52 of its flights will be affected by the strike.

Nine of them are to Orly and Charles de Gaulle airports from Lisbon and Oporto, 290 kilometers (180 miles) north of Lisbon.

"The airline will try and reschedule the flights to France but is worried that it might not be possible," TAP spokeswoman Izabel Palma said.

Most Portuguese airports were to come to a standstill for four hours.

Finnair, Finland's national carrier, said it will only fly one of its four daily round-trip flights to Paris from Helsinki. Connections that normally would go through Paris were being rerouted via Belgium, Finnair said.

Czech state-run carrier CSA said Tuesday it would cancel nearly all flights between Prague and Paris.

Air traffic controllers are staging the work stoppage to oppose implementation of a continent-wide "single-sky" plan that is aimed at reducing congestion and delays for travelers by bringing all air traffic controllers under unified supervision so that airlines can fly routes that are not defined by European borders.

EU transportation ministers met Monday in Luxembourg to discuss the plan.

France and some other nations have reservations about giving up national sovereignty over their airspace. The EU has agreed to delay joining Eurocontrol, the intergovernmental organization for air traffic management, until the French parliament gives its approval.

A similar strike by French workers last December caused massive disruptions across Europe with the cancellation of hundreds of flights that needed to land in France or fly through French airspace.

Another strike in June 2000 grounded 90 percent of flights departing from Paris and caused widespread delays and cancellations throughout Europe.