KM Malta Airlines has had to cancel its flights scheduled for Paris Orly on Saturday after air traffic controllers at that airport called a strike. 

The airline announced on Friday that it has been forced to cancel KM466 and KM467 between Malta and Paris Orly on Saturday, May 25. 

Passengers who had previously been booked on these flights have been automatically transferred to alternative flights set to travel between Malta and the Charles De Gaulle airport in Paris instead. 

Affected passengers will rebooked on KM3466 operating between Malta and Paris Charles De Gaulle Airport departing at 5.10 pm and flight KM3467 operating between Paris Charles De Gaulle Airport departing at 8.55 pm. 

Customers who prefer a monetary refund and booked their flights directly with KM Malta may apply through an online form. Those who have booked through a travel agent are requested to contact their respective agents to request a refund.

The French civil aviation authority said Friday it had ordered airlines operating at Paris Orly airport to cancel 70% of flights ahead of a weekend air traffic controller strike.

The cancellations will affect commercial flights scheduled between 0400 GMT and 2130 GMT on Saturday, it said in a statement.

Flights between Orly and French overseas territories would be allowed to operate normally, it said.

The stoppage comes only a month after a massive air traffic controller strike affecting several French airports that ended with a deal between the civil aviation authority and the biggest air traffic controller union, the SNCTA.

But the second-biggest union, UNSA-ICNA, said staffing levels were still inadequate.

"The managers at Orly continue their penny-pinching and shopkeeper accounts which will quickly lead to our teams being understaffed" by 2027, it said in a statement.

UNSA-ICNA and the third-biggest sector union, USAC-CGT, have both rejected the deal signed late last month, which also included concessions on salaries.

The April strike led to the cancellations of thousands of flights in France and across Europe.

Orly, located to the south of Paris, is the second-biggest airport serving the French capital after Roissy Charles-de-Gaulle.

It is a secondary hub for national carrier Air France and the home base for its low-cost subsidiary Transavia. 

More than 20 other airlines, including easyJet, Iberia and TAP, fly out of Orly, which processed more than 32 million passengers last year, according to airport association UAF.