France: airline pilots and cabin crew national strike notice from 17 to 21 October 2026

The joint national strike notice filed by five pilot and cabin crew unions — SNPL, UNSA-PNC, SNPNC-FO, SNGAF and UNAC — for all flight crew employed under French labour law from Saturday 17 October to Wednesday 21 October 2026 was suspended on 9 October and the notice period has now ended without a strike. SNPNC-FO announced on 9 October that the intersyndicale decided to suspend the notice after the government rewrote its circular on the cumul emploi-retraite reform, committed not to annul the CRPN board's vote and promised a decree. The unions said the suspension was not a blank cheque: if the decree is not published, their mobilisation resumes in full — a new notice would need to be filed.

What to expect: no flight crew strike took place from 17 to 21 October; airlines operated their normal schedules. This page is no longer updated unless the unions file a new notice.

Why: the reform of the cumul emploi-retraite (combining work and a pension), due to take effect on 1 January 2027, which crews say would cap the complementary pensions paid by their own fund, the CRPN. Flight crew face medical limits and age ceilings that often end their careers early, and the unions want them and the CRPN protected by law rather than by a government circular.