News / Air France Cargo faces strike at Paris CdG – and cancels all Hong Kong flights

Air France Cargo and Delta Cargo are expected to see delays at their Charles de Gaulle hub following industrial action.

Air France warned customers yesterday “several Air France staff unions” would strike from midnight on Friday until 6am today, but that cargo would be affected for another 24 hours.

The airline declined to comment further when contacted by The Loadstar, but told customers: “These actions mainly affect the handling of our intra-European truck operation, and therefore the import and export of Air France Cargo and Delta Cargo shipments at our hub at Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris.

“We expect this delay to last until 7am CET on Tuesday morning, 7 December.”

The airline did not say which staff were striking, or how much cargo would be affected, but it also said it was cancelling all flights, including freighters, from Charles de Gaulle to Hong Kong until 26 March.

KLM is not impacted by the cancellations, which the airline said was due to Covid-19 restrictions.

A spokesperson told The Loadstar: “Due to strict Coronavirus regulations, also for crew, from the authorities in Hong Kong, the Air France flight schedule to and from HKG is not feasible.

“Of course, all possible solutions are carefully considered, but for the time being all CDG/HKG/CDG flights have been cancelled.”

He explained that KLM operates its flights via Bangkok, and so had no planned crew layovers in Hong Kong.

Hong Kong has adopted Beijing’s closed-border zero-Covid strategy, which has resulted in long quarantine periods. Cathay Pacific has reported that pilots are leaving the airline to find jobs at other carriers as the rules take their toll.

FedEx is among carriers that have had to make changes; the express carrier is relocating its Hong Kong-based pilots to California because of the rules. It said its decision to close its crew base in the city was permanent.