Airlines are likely to be forced to cancel flights between the UK and France on Friday due to a planned strike by French air traffic controllers.

France’s Civil Aviation Authority has warned the industrial action, over pay and employment conditions, will affect flights to the whole of France.

It could also cause delays and cancellations to flights to other destinations travelling through French air space, although the Directorate General for Civil Aviation in France said it was working with Eurocontrol to help airlines avoid it.

The strike has been called by the Syndicat majoritaire des contrôleurs aériens union (SNCTA), which is the largest among controller unions.

When asked by Travel Gossip how the strike would impact it, easyJet responded:

“Due to national air traffic control strike action in France this Friday 16 September affecting all airports in France, airlines operating to and from French airports have been requested by the French authorities DGAC to make some cancellations on Friday 16 September. As a result we expect some disruption to our French flying programme as well as on routes operating via French airspace.

“We will be proactively contacting any impacted customers via SMS messages and email to provide options to change their flight for free or receive a refund.

“We advise all customers travelling on Friday 16 September to check the status of their flights on our Flight Tracker on our mobile app or website for live updates. While this is outside of our control, we would like to apologise to our customers for any inconvenience they may experience as a result of the strike action.”

Other airlines most likely to be affected include Air France, British Airways and Ryanair but none has issued an official statement yet.