Strike continues to affect air traffic in France\'s airports

Thousands of flights were cancelled on Wednesday in French airports as air traffic controllers continued on a strike protesting a European proposal to liberalize the sector, according to the Civil Aviation Authority. The second day of the strike affected 1,800 flights from Charles de Gaulle, Orly and Beauvais, as well as air traffic in Lyon, Nice, Toulouse, Marseille and Bordeaux, after all French air traffic controllers went on the strike, it said. Half of all French flights were cancelled on Wednesday amid a two-day strike to express refusal of the European Union plans to create a single airspace likely to stir job and pay cuts for air traffic controllers. In a move to ease tension, French Transport Minister Frederic Cuvillier said France and Berlin are seeking a postponement of the plan, a move that provided a little relief to the air traffic controllers union that decided to lift the strike scheduled for Thursday.