Both Ryanair and Aer Lingus have cancelled a number of flights as a result of a strike by French air traffic controllers.
Services to and from Dublin, Cork and Shannon are affected.
Travel expert Eoghan Corry told Newstalk Breakfast this is much larger than previous ones.
"This one's a little bit different - it's the bigger of the three unions, the Syndicat NCTA, they have about 41% of the air traffic controllers.
"Their power base is more in Paris.
"But it means that the French authorities have asked all the airlines to cancel 50% of their flights: that's carnage".
25 rotations from Ireland cancelled due to French air traffic control strike #DublinAirport #CorkAirport #ShannonAirport pic.twitter.com/4pla0HkMen
— Eoghan Corry (@eoghancorry) September 16, 2022
He said this approach is causing maximum disruption to travellers.
"The level of disruption this small group of about 2,000 air traffic controllers can affect.
"It's also the reshaping of the industry, that Ryanair are now more affected than Air France.
"Air France were the real target, historically, but Ryanair's had to cancel 420 flights - Air France 400.
"But that is something like 10-times the amount of flights that Ryanair has lost throughout the summer with their well-publicised cabin crew strikes.
"These guys can actually shut down airspace: they're the most powerful people in all the cogs in the aviation industry.
"And they're threatening to do it for three days again at the end of the month in two weeks' time", he added.
