Workers at France's Charles De Gaulle airport to strike on Thursday

PARIS (Reuters) - Workers at France's main Charles De Gaulle airport in Paris will strike on Thursday to demand better pay and working conditions, the CGT trade union said, as European airports struggle to deal with a sudden pickup in passenger numbers.

"We demand a 300 euro raise for all," the union said in a statement on Wednesday, pointing to rising inflation, and working conditions during the coronavirus pandemic.

Earlier on Wednesday, France Info radio reported the strike would result in the cancellation of a quarter of the airport's flights.

"We were present during the most critical periods linked to COVID and worked in difficult conditions, lack of protection, masks, gel," the union said in the statement, also citing COVID-related layoffs which can weigh operationally.

Europe's aviation sector is looking forward to a peak summer season free of substantial coronavirus restrictions in most countries worldwide for the first time since 2019.

However, airlines and airports are struggling to cope with a rebound in demand with staff shortages leading to cancelled flights and long queues.

In Spain, the government said on Tuesday the police would hire 500 more staff to deal with the surge in tourism.

(Reporting by Benoit Van Overstraeten and Valentine Baldassari; Editing by Sudip Kar-Gupta, Kirsten Donovan)