Airlines have had to cancel hundreds of flights as airport staff went on strike, leaving tens of thousands of passengers in the lurch as the summer travel season gets under way.

Strike action by French air traffic controllers on Thursday has led to the cancellation of hundreds of flights, leaving tens of thousands of passengers in the lurch at the start of the summer season — one of the busiest times of the year for travel.

France’s civil aviation authority DGAC said airlines needed to revise their schedules, including at Paris’ Roissy Charles de Gaulle airport — one of Europe’s busiest travel hubs.

A little after 10 am (0800 UTC/GMT) on Thursday, AFP news agency reported that flights were experiencing significant delays, including an average of 1.5 hours for arrivals and 1 hour for departures in Nice, France’s third-largest airport.