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French newspapers reported that CityJet cabin crew based in France and represented by the trade unions CGT and SNPNC-FO were involved in industrial action from 17:00 on 21st October to 23:59 on 25th October. While there was no appreciable effect on their Dublin operations, Le Figaro reported that morning flight to Zurich to Paris - Charles de Gaulle on 21st October was cancelled while a further 25 flights were likely to be disrupted during the strike. Marie Langevin of SNPNC-FO which represents 52 employees said they were seeking to have the company’s head office moved to France so as to have their working conditions come under French employment and social laws. "CityJet do not give (cabin crew) the minimum time for rest provided by French law" she added. Although founded in 1994 in Ireland, CityJet became a 100% owned subsidiary of Air France in 2000. In France, it employs 80 people and serves Brive, Nantes, Paris (Orly and Charles de Gaulle) and Pau.

The following weekend (29th October – 2nd November), it was the turn of Air France mainline to go on strike. Air France’s 15,000 cabin crew represented by five different units planned disruptions to flights in protest at cuts to staffing levels. The strike came at a particularly poor time given the very difficult economic conditions facing the airline industry, including Air France. The rationale for the strike was even more incomprehensible considering that cabin crew employment is not threatened and that additional hiring occurred in 2011. Again there was no appreciable effect on CityJet’s operations while Air France itself was able to operate 90% of its flights, including all of its scheduled long-haul flights. The number of flights operated increased steadily during the course of the strike as two of unions CFDT and CFTC, representing about 12% of the company’s cabin crew pulled out in the middle of the strike. Air France said it transported over 550,000 passengers throughout the five day strike period and only eight medium-haul flights were cancelled at the last minute. Air France teams had also been activated to limit the disruption to passengers.

Looking at the CityJet Avro RJ85s, EI-RJL in the colours of Lamia (Venezuela), which arrived in Dublin on 8th September as the BCY001P for maintenance, it finally departed back to Norwich on 2nd November as the BCY083P at 12:40. She was replaced by sister ship EI-RJM also in Lamia colours, which arrived from Norwich as the BCY081P at 15:42. EI-RJM was noted on 6th November on the ramp in front of the control tower. She departed as the BCY042P at 16:49 on 7th November. Finally, there have been no other reports of EI-RJV also painted in the colours of Lamia since it was noted at Norwich Airport on 15th October.