British Airways and easyJet face flight delays and cancellations due to French industrial action

Passengers flying to France by British Airways and easyJet have been affected by industrial action launched by French air traffic controllers. Hundreds of passengers flying from Gatwick, Heathrow and Luton to French airports are facing delays or cancellations.

The strike, which affected passengers on 20 March, is expected to continue on Monday and Tuesday. The average delay passengers were experiencing was 50 minutes, according to Gatwick officials, who asked passengers to call their respective airlines for updates on their flight timings.

An easyjet spokesman confirmed that 82 flights were cancelled on 20 March of which 32 were scheduled to take off from British airports. "We have been proactively informing affected customers, so they have the opportunity to reorganise their journeys," he added.

"As well as affecting flights to and from France, the strike action is causing delays to other flights which use French airspace. We recommend that all customers travelling on Sunday 20 and Monday, 21 March, 2016 check the status of their flight on our Flight Tracker page," the spokesman said.

He added: "Affected customers can change their flight free of charge or receive a refund. We advise customers to make any amendments to their booking on the Manage My Bookings area of easyJet.com."

The spokesman said: "We would like to apologise to all our customers for any inconvenience and would like to reassure them we are doing all possible to minimise any disruption as a result of the industrial action."

Luton airport too confirmed that passengers flying to Amsterdam and Nimes had been affected by the strike. It added that four flights had been delayed because of a "knock-on effect in the network".

British Airways has not specified how many flights were affected. It said: "[We are] doing all we can to minimise disruption to customers affected." A BA spokeswoman said it was dealing with the situation by using larger aircraft and rerouting some flights.