Dhaka : A control tower failure at Paris Orly Airport led to the cancellation of around 130 flights on Sunday (May 18), leaving thousands of passengers scrambling for alternative routes.

According to Aeroports de Paris, which manages the airport, nearly 40pc of the day's scheduled departures and arrivals were canceled.

The DGAC, France's civil aviation authority, attributed the disruption to "a failure of the air traffic control systems at Orly's tower" early in the afternoon, resulting in a "significant" reduction in flights.

An aviation source told agency that a radar breakdown caused the airport chaos.

The airport spokesman said about half the 130 cancelled flights were departures and half incoming flights.

Flights across France and to other European destinations and North Africa were among those hit. The DGAC would not say whether flights would return to normal on Monday.

Stood near a line of suitcases, Agnes Zilouri, 46, tried desperately to find a seat for her 86-year-old mother and six year old son. The family had been meant to take a flight to Oujda in Morocco on Sunday evening to go to a funeral.

"The flight is cancelled. Fortunately I am with my mother," she said.

Last year Orly handled about 33 million passengers, approximately half the number of the main Paris Charles de Gaulle international airport.

-B