NewsTravellers Stranded As Air Traffic Control Strike Grounds Flight Operations Across Africa

Travellers Stranded As Air Traffic Control Strike Grounds Flight Operations Across Africa

aiteo

September 24, (THEWILL) – Several Airlines on Friday, cancelled flight operations to and from Africa as air traffic control strike grounded flight operations across 18 countries in the continent.

According to Reuters, flights to and from Europe, the United States, as well as within Africa, were halted on Friday night.

Staff at the Agency for Aerial Navigation Safety in Africa and Madagascar (ASECNA), which regulates air traffic control across 18 countries, stopped working on Friday, during a dispute over working conditions and pay, despite court rulings and government bans restricting such action.

ASECNA’s head of Human Resources, Ceubah Guelpina, said, “In spite of the prohibition of the strike by all the courts … the Union of Air Traffic Controllers’ Unions (USYCAA) has launched a wildcat strike.

“We have already exhausted both administrative and institutional remedies in the management of this crisis, but we have in front of us trade unionists who are stubborn to do whatever they want.”

The USYCAA union said in a statement that its members would cease providing services to all, but “sensitive” flights until their demands are satisfied.

A leader of the Senegalese air traffic controllers, Paul Francois Gomis, said some union members in Cameroon, Congo and the Comoros had been arrested for participating in the strike.

However, ASECNA said it has developed a contingency plan to allow airlines to take alternative routes when certain airports are impacted by temporary staff shortages, in case the strike should drag on.

A source, who was due to fly into Nigeria from South Africa, said his flight, which should have departed the O.R Tambo International Airport, Johannesburg, to Nigeria on Friday night, was grounded as a result of the strike action.

“Our flight has been grounded. We’re basically stranded here”, the source said.

About the Author

Homepage | Recent Posts

More like this
Related