EasyJet strike grounds dozens of flights
Passengers flying with easyJet will face significant disruption on Saturday and Sunday as cabin crew in France strike over working conditions and staff schedules. The airline, which carried more than 69.7 million passengers in 2022 making it Europe's second-largest budget carrier behind Ryanair, will cancel around 40 flights departing France on Saturday, with similar cancellations expected Sunday.
Three unions representing easyJet's French cabin crew—UNAC-CFE-CGC, SNPNC-FO and UNPNC-CFDT—called the action after filing a strike notice covering August 7 to September 2. The unions are protesting unstable rosters, last-minute schedule changes, demanding rotations and insufficient rest periods.
"We are not asking for anything unprecedented: we are asking for what the company has already granted to pilots. We regret having to resort to this, but our colleagues have had enough," said Gaël Leloup, an UNAC-CFE-CGC union representative.
The strike affects easyJet's six French bases: Paris Orly, Paris Charles de Gaulle, Lyon, Nice, Nantes and Bordeaux. While France represents a significant market for the carrier, the UK remains easyJet's largest base with over 35 million seats annually—twice the French capacity.
Passengers booked to fly this weekend should check their flight status before leaving for the airport and monitor emails, text messages and notifications from the airline closely.
SNCF strike disrupts Paris-Normandy services
A separate local strike is affecting SNCF services between Paris and Normandy from Friday August 14 through Sunday August 16. The disruption affects several routes connecting the capital to coastal destinations, including Paris-Caen-Cherbourg, Paris-Rouen-Le Havre and Paris-Trouville-Deauville.
These lines, branded as 'Nomad' trains by Normandy's regional rail service, are popular tourist routes during the summer holiday period. SNCF has committed to providing a minimum level of service and is offering ticket exchanges or refunds for affected passengers.
Additional routes facing disruption include Paris-Vernon-Rouen and Paris-Évreux-Bernay-Caen. Travellers should check the SNCF Connect app or TER traffic information shortly before departure.
Paris transport network faces extensive works
Travellers arriving in or departing from Paris will also contend with extensive summer engineering works across the Île-de-France rail network. The RER B and RER D lines are among the most affected, with major works around Gare du Nord and Gare de Lyon.
The RER B disruption is particularly significant for passengers using Charles de Gaulle Airport. Parts of the service are interrupted or reduced during the weekend, with replacement buses and alternative routes available. Other affected services include sections of the RER A, RER C, RER D and RER E, as well as several Transilien lines.
Passengers making connections in Paris should allow extra time, particularly when changing between mainline trains, RER services and the Métro. Schedules and replacement services can change, so checking the latest information on SNCF Connect, Transilien or the Île-de-France Mobilités app before departure is essential.
Saturday traffic reaches critical levels
For motorists, Saturday August 15 is forecast to be the most difficult day of the weekend. Bison Futé—France's official road traffic information service created in 1976 following a massive 600-kilometre traffic jam—has classified the day red nationwide in both directions and black in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region for departures from cities.
The service's four-colour classification system runs from green (fluid) through orange (dense) and red (very difficult) to black (extremely difficult). The black classification represents the highest possible warning level.
The August 15 weekend represents one of France's traditional peak travel periods. Summer traffic typically reaches maximum congestion on the July 14 weekend, the August 15 weekend and during the late July-early August period known as the 'chassé-croisé'—when July and August holidaymakers swap places on the roads.
Particularly busy routes include the A7 between Lyon and Marseille, where drivers routinely wait two to four hours during summer weekends, especially on the notorious Rhône valley corridor section between Lyon and Orange. Other congested routes will include the A8 toward the Côte d'Azur, A9 in the south, A10 between Paris and Bordeaux, A13 toward Normandy and the A43 between Lyon and the Alps.
The Paris region will also see significant traffic. Bison Futé divides mainland France into six zones for its forecasts—Île-de-France, Grand-Ouest et Nord, Bourgogne et Est, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, Sud-Ouest and Arc méditerranéen—with separate predictions for departure and return traffic in each zone.
Sunday August 16 will see conditions ease somewhat, with only certain areas including Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes and the Mediterranean Arc facing continued congestion. However, traffic will remain heavy on several major routes on Monday August 17.
Authorities advise departing very early in the morning or late in the evening to avoid peak congestion, and where possible, avoiding travel entirely on the busiest days. This weekend is one of six days in 2026 where at least one French region faces black-level traffic warnings, with August 1 having been classified black nationwide for departures—the busiest getaway day of the summer.
