PARIS (AP) — Workers at the Louvre Museum voted Monday for strikes to protest their work conditions, a ticket-price hike for non-European visitors and security weaknesses that a brazen daylight theft of France’s Crown Jewels highlighted in October.
In a letter announcing the strike action starting next Monday, which was addressed to France's culture minister and seen by The Associated Press, the CGT, CFDT and Sud unions asserted that “visiting the Louvre has become a real obstacle course” for the millions of people who come to admire its huge collections of art and artifacts.
The museum is in “crisis,” with insufficient resources and “increasingly deteriorated working conditions," said the unions’ strike notice to Culture Minister Rachida Dati.
“The theft of 19 October 2025 highlighted shortcomings in priorities that had long been reported,” the unions alleged.
The robbery gang made off with loot worth an estimated 88 million euros ($102 million). The museum director subsequently acknowledged a ″terrible failure" in security. The thieves took less than eight minutes to force their way into the museum and leave, using a freight lift to reach one of the building’s windows, angle grinders to cut into jewelry display cases, and motorbikes to make their escape.
The haul hasn’t been recovered. It includes a diamond-and-emerald necklace Napoleon gave to Empress Marie-Louise, jewels tied to two 19th century queens, Marie-Amélie and Hortense, and Empress Eugénie’s pearl-and-diamond tiara.
Upkeep of the museum's vast and historic buildings, which were a former palace for French royals, also hasn't kept pace with its success as one of France's leading attractions.
A water leak on Nov. 26 damaged several hundred publications stored in the museum's library of works specializing in Egyptian antiquities. The damaged works included revues and documents from the 19th and 20th century, the museum said. The opening of a valve triggered the leak in a network of water pipes that are due to be replaced next year, the museum said.
Last month, the Louvre also announced the temporary closure of some employees’ offices and one public gallery because of weakened floor beams.
In their strike notice, the unions said that antiquated facilities and insufficient staffing are impacting the visitor experience, forcing the closure of some displays. They demanded that resources be focused on building improvements and safeguarding the museum, its collections, visitors and employees.
“We are in a run-down museum which has shown its security weaknesses,” Christian Galani, a CGT union official representing Louvre workers, said in an AP interview. He said the strike-action vote by employees on Monday morning was unanimous and that the planned rolling strikes risked forcing the museum's closure.
“We need a change of gear,” he said.
FILE - A carpet at Le Louvre museum, Wednesday, Nov. 19, 2025 in Paris. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena, File)
FILE- People walk by an entrance of the Louvre museum, Thursday, Oct. 30, 2025 in Paris. (AP Photo/Emma Da Silva, file)
Tens of thousands of airline passengers are stranded by the Iran war that has spread across the Gulf region, but some wealthy travelers are getting out — by paying large sums for luxury flights to Europe via airports that are safe from Iranian drone and missile attacks.
Demand for charter flights has skyrocketed, with some people paying up to 200,000 euros ($232,000) as major airports in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Doha, Qatar, were closed after the start of the conflict last weekend.
Travelers from Dubai, usually known as a safe and luxurious destination, are seeking to evacuate by traveling overland either to Muscat, Oman, about a four-hour drive, or to Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia, more than 10 hours away. Then they board one of the few available commercial flights or take a charter flight, whose costs have soared since the start of the war.
“The demand is huge, and we can’t deliver enough aircraft to respond to the demand,” said Altay Kula, CEO of the France-based private jet broker JET-VIP.
Whereas normally a charter flight on a private jet that can accommodate up to 16 passengers from Riyadh to Porto in Portugal may cost around 100,000 euros ($115,800) these days, the cost has doubled, Kula said.
“This increase in cost reflects the aircraft’s scarcity, the repositioning costs as well, and the operator risk assessments. So this is not speculative pricing,” he added.
Prices can vary depending on the departure point, the type of aircraft and the route constraints, said Ameerh Naran, CEO of Vimana Private Jets. For flights from the Gulf region to Europe, prices are ranging from 150,000 euros ($173,800) to 200,000 euros, he added.
In order to reach functional airports such as those in Riyadh and Muscat, some travelers hire private security companies that coordinate transportation in vehicles ranging from ordinary passenger cars to coach buses.
Due to the heavy traffic, wait times at border points with Oman can be up to four hours, while costs range in the thousands of dollars, said Ian McCaul, operations and planning director with Alma Risk, a U.K.-based risk management and security firm.
Those seeking to leave are predominantly stranded travelers, as opposed to residents, McCaul added.
He estimates his company has made transfer arrangements for more than 200 people and advised several others in recent days.
Vimana's clients include business executives, families and entrepreneurs, as well as remote workers who had been based in the region, Naran said.
Elie Hanna, CEO for the Middle East headquarters of Air Charter Service, based in Dubai, said most of the flights out of the region are leaving from Oman. The prices are so high, he said, because few charter planes are available since most of them are stuck at airports that are now closed.
The clients he is seeing range from people who regularly charter private, as well as people who generally fly commercial but are trying to pool resources with other travelers or families to share the expense.
“Everyone is stressed," Hanna said. "To be honest, everyone is trying to accommodate as much as they can. Muscat Airport is overloaded with flights and everybody is stressed.”
Experts from the International SOS security and health services company expect the fighting to continue to affect transportation and energy infrastructure for weeks.
A few people walk in a public plaza in downtown Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Tuesday, March 3, 2026. (AP Photo/ Fatima Shbair)
Light traffic moves along a main road in downtown Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Tuesday, March 3, 2026. (AP Photo/ Fatima Shbair)
ADDS CAUSE OF BLACK SMOKE IN THE BACKGROUND.- A plume of smoke caused by an Iranian strike is seen in the background an an Emirates plane is parked at the Dubai International Airport after its closure in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Sunday, March 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)
