More than 1,500 flights have been cancelled on July 3-4, affecting nearly 300,000 passengers, due to a strike by French air traffic controllers, European industry lobby Airlines for Europe said in a statement.
"Airlines for Europe (A4E) strongly condemns the French air traffic control (ATC) strike taking place today and tomorrow," it said.
"Tens of thousands of travellers in France and across Europe have seen their summer getaway grounded as French air-traffic controllers walk out during the Grand Départ; one of the busiest periods for summer travel," it added.
"This strike is intolerable," said the head of Airlines for Europe, Ourania Georgoutsakou.
"French air traffic control already delivers some of Europe's worst delay figures and now the actions of a minority of French air traffic control workers will needlessly disrupt the holiday plans of thousands of people in France and across Europe."
Half of flights in Nice, France's third-largest airport, and a quarter of flights at Paris Orly and Paris Charles de Gaulle, one of Europe's busiest hubs, have been cancelled.
Disruption is expected to worsen on Friday, the eve of the school holidays.
"We're trying to stay positive, there are worse things, but it's annoying," Nadia Rivet, a 51-year-old bank employee, told AFP.
Rivet was planning to spend six days in the French capital, but her flight from the southwestern city of Pau on Thursday morning was cancelled.
"Everyone has the right to strike, but it's punitive. Air traffic controllers aren't the worst off," she said.
The strike forced the cancellation of 933 flights on Thursday, said the DGAC civil aviation authority, which had asked airlines to cancel some of their flights to ensure there are enough controllers on duty.
The strike involved 272 air traffic controllers from a workforce of around 1,000 staff on duty, the DGAC said.
