Tourists face disruption at Gatwick airport tonight because of planned strike action by French air traffic controllers.

Airlines have cancelled, rescheduled or rerouted flights.

British Airways announced it would ground a total of 62 flights to and from Gatwick and Heathrow just before and during the 32-hour strike, which begins at 8pm.

Go said it would be rescheduling its four daily flights to Nice and Lyon. Staff have been told to contact as many passengers as possible to inform them of the changes.

A spokesman said: "We will talk to people and try to be as flexible as possible. For those who want to fly, we will do our utmost to get them there."

Easyjet said it had no current plans to cancel flights to and from Nice, Paris Charles de Gaulle and Lyon.

A spokeswoman said: "We are not cancelling flights at the moment because it's difficult for us to know how the strike will affect us.

"We are advising customers to prepare to travel as normal but they should check the web site for further information.

"If there is any disruption to services, then we will do all we can to accommodate people's needs and transfer them to other flights if necessary."

British trippers and truckers were able to move freely between the UK and France today after a French lorry drivers' dispute failed to create the chaos that had been expected.

It had been thought that ports would be blockaded in the strike, which began on Sunday night.

But UK ferry and haulage companies reported that ports including Calais were blockade-free.

And there were further reports that police had ordered strikers to remove blockades set up on French inland roads.

"It's very much business as usual and the strikers seem to be leaving the ports alone," said a spokeswoman for P&0 Ferries.

UK Freight Transport Association spokesman Geoff Dossetter said: "Eurotunnel car and freight shuttle services are working well and there are no queues at Dover."