A strike by air-traffic controller affected flight Wednesday across France, resultant in cancellation of 10 percent of listed flights from Paris' main international airport, the civil aviation power DGAC said.

In addition to the cancellation at Roissy Charles de Gaulle Airport, half of the flights from Orly, the nation second-largest airport, were canceled, the authority said.

Would-be passengers were urged to contact their airlines previous to traveling to the airport.

Ireland's low-cost airline Ryanair called Wednesday for the French government to get the French military, "if necessary," to take over air traffic manage duty while civilian air traffic controller are on strike. "France, passengers and airlines cannot pay for these airport closure at a time when traffic and tourism is suffering," Ryanair said in a statement.

The timing coincides with the start of summer vacations for many French. One EasyJet passenger who was at Orly when she found out her flight had been canceled until Thursday bemoaned her situation. "In the middle of July, it's hard to find a place to stay," said Nawel Boubouka.

The strike started Tuesday evening and is listed to end Thursday at 6 a.m.
Controllers are striking over strategy to unify European air traffic control.
France is due to join Switzerland, Belgium, Germany the Netherlands and Luxembourg to form what is being called Functional Airspace Block Europe Central (FABEC).

FABEC is a cornerstone of the Single European Sky project, which advocates say will decrease fuel use and flight times by making it possible for planes to fly extra direct routes crosswise the continent.

The FABEC region covers 1,713,442 square km (661,560 sq miles) and is characterize by closely interlaced civil and military traffic routes, The majority of the large European airport and major civil and military airways are located in the FABEC area.