Strike by French air traffic controllers causes flight delays and cancellations

PARIS (AP) — A strike by French air traffic controllers seeking better working conditions brought chaos at the height of Europe’s summer travel season after around 40% of flights to and from Paris were canceled on Friday.

Disruptions started hitting airports across France on Thursday. These intensified Friday as the national civil aviation authority asked airlines to cancel 40% of flights at Charles de Gaulle, Orly and Beauvais airports serving Paris, half of flights in Nice and 30% of flights in Marseille, Lyon and some other cities.

Despite the preventive cancelations, the authority warned in a statement that ″disruptions and long delays are to be expected at all French airports.”

Paris airports' departure boards were showing a long list of flight delays and cancellations for destinations across France, Europe, North Africa and beyond.

Ryanair was among the airlines that announced widespread disruptions, saying in a statement that it had canceled more than 400 flights affecting 70,000 passengers. The company said the strike affects all its flights over French airspace as well as traffic in and out of French airports, and urged the European Union to reform air traffic rules.

One of the two unions leading the strike, UNSA-ICNA, said in a statement there are not enough employees to handle surging air travel and that inflation is eating away at salaries. The unions are also protesting new reform measures aiming to more tightly monitor their work, prompted by a near-collision at the Bordeaux airport.

Transport Minister Philippe Tabarot called the unions' demands — and their decision to strike just as French schools close for the summer and many families head on vacation — ″unacceptable.″

Mariano Mignola, from Naples, Italy, travelling with his wife and children, had his flight back from Paris cancelled. “Last night, when we checked in, we realized something was wrong. We went to the airport’s website and discovered the sad news," he said. “We came here hoping to find a solution, that the company would provide us with accommodation. But instead, nothing.”

“We have to do everything on our own, but it’s impossible” in the midst of holiday departures, Mignola said. "There’s nothing available, not even a car to drive back.”

Parisian Patrick Haus had planned to attend a meeting in Nice, in southern France, but his flight was cancelled. "In a way, I stand in solidarity with the strikers. It’s important to know that people don’t strike for fun,” he said.

Associated Press writers Angela Charlton and Sylvie Corbet contributed to the story.

A worker walks on the tarmac at the Saint-Exupery airport, near Lyon, France, as French air traffic controllers launched a two-day strike to demand better working conditions, Friday, July 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Laurent Cipriani)

Passengers look a departures information board at Saint-Exupery airport, near Lyon, as French air traffic controllers launched a two-day strike to demand better working conditions, Friday, July 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Laurent Cipriani)

Passengers look a departures information board at Saint-Exupery airport, near Lyon, as French air traffic controllers launched a two-day strike to demand better working conditions, Friday, July 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Laurent Cipriani)

Passengers look a departures information board at Orly airport, near Paris, as French air traffic controllers launched a two-day strike to demand better working conditions, Friday, July 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard)

A departures information board is seen at Orly airport, near Paris, as French air traffic controllers launched a two-day strike to demand better working conditions, Friday, July 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard)

FILE -Air France planes sit on the tarmac at Roissy Charles de Gaulle airport, north of Paris, Sept. 16, 2022. . (AP Photo/Francois Mori, File)

NEWARK, Del.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan 15, 2026--

QPS Holdings, LLC (QPS), an award-winning contract research organization (CRO) focused on bioanalysis and clinical trials announces the successful implementation of Oracle Argus, a premier pharmacovigilance system designed to support comprehensive safety case management for clinical trials.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260115711485/en/

The adoption of the Oracle Argus drug safety platform underscores QPS’s commitment to advancing patient safety, regulatory compliance, and operational excellence across its clients’ clinical drug development programs. Integrating this industry-standard safety platform strengthens QPS’ ability to capture, manage, and report adverse events in accordance with global regulatory requirements.

“Ensuring patient safety and data integrity is at the heart of what we do when conducting clinical trials,” said Derek Grimes, Executive Vice President of QPS. “Oracle Argus provides us with a robust, scalable solution to support the growing needs of our customer’s clinical trial portfolios and the evolving expectations of regulatory authorities worldwide.”

“Oracle Argus provides QPS Holdings, LLC with a trusted, globally recognized drug safety platform that supports compliance with stringent pharmacovigilance standards and regulations, while streamlining end-to-end safety operations and insights at scale,” said Seema Verma, executive vice president and general manager, Oracle Health and Life Sciences. “With our industry-leading solutions, QPS Holdings, LLC can further transform and elevate its safety case management for customers worldwide.”

The deployment of Oracle Argus will enable QPS to:

As the demand for innovative therapies continues to rise, CROs play a critical role in managing both development speed and patient safety. By leveraging the Oracle Argus platform, QPS is well-positioned to deliver on its mission to accelerate pharmaceutical breakthroughs across the globe by delivering custom-built research services.

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ABOUT QPS HOLDINGS, LLC

QPS is a global, full-service, GLP/GCP-compliant contract research organization (CRO) delivering the highest grade of discovery, bioanalysis, preclinical and clinical drug development services. Since 1995, QPS has grown from a small bioanalysis shop into a full-service CRO with 1,200+ employees in the US, Europe, Asia and India. Today, QPS offers expanded pharmaceutical contract R&D services with special expertise in pharmacology, DMPK, toxicology, bioanalysis, translational medicine, PBMC processing, central safety labs, clinical trials, and clinical research services. An award-winning leader focused on bioanalysis and clinical trials, QPS is known for proven quality standards, technical expertise, a flexible approach to research, client satisfaction, turnkey laboratories, Phase I/II clinical units, and multi-site clinical research services. For more information, visit http://www.qps.com or email info@qps.com.

ABOUT ORACLE ARGUS

Oracle Argus is an industry-leading, trusted solution for processing, analyzing, and reporting adverse event cases originating in pre-market and post-market drugs, biologics, vaccines, devices, and combination products. Oracle has been a Leader in the IDC MarketScape: Worldwide Life Science R&D Pharmacovigilance Technology Solutions and Consulting Services 2025 Vendor Assessment (doc # US53669225, July 2025). To learn more about Oracle’s pharmacovigilance portfolio visit: https://www.oracle.com/life-sciences/safety-solutions/argus-safety-case-management/. Trademarks: Oracle, Java, MySQL and NetSuite are registered trademarks of Oracle Corporation.

Derek Grimes, EVP, Global Head of Clinical Research at QPS Holdings, LLC.