Striking airline workers ran onto airport runways in the French Mediterranean resorts of Nice and Montpellier today, forcing flights to be cancelled or diverted.
All movement out of Nice airport was stopped and eight flights due to arrive had to be re-routed to nearby Marseille or to Genoa in Italy, the town's chamber of commerce and industry told reporters.
At Montpellier around 100 staff blocked runways for an hour, delaying the departure of two planes to Paris and one to London.
The protesters were employees of AOM-Air Liberte and Air Littoral who were marking a day of strike action in protest at the threatened closure of the carriers.
Tomorrow shareholders of the Swiss holding company SAirGroup are due to meet to decide on whether to drop their investment in the French firms, which mainly operate internal flights.
AFP