nearly one in three flights canceled this weekend

Nearly a third of the flights of the French branch of Transavia are canceled this Friday and Saturday, and a quarter on Sunday, due to a strike for wages at the call of a union of hostesses and stewards, indicated the low cost airline.

« Transavia France plans to operate 70% of its capacity over the next two days and 75% on Sunday, » said a spokesperson. Between 250 and 265 flights per day were initially planned throughout the weekend.

The social movement, at the call of the minority union SNPNC, started on Thursday and is due to end on Sunday evening.

Customer frustration

The exasperation of customers whose flight is canceled was palpable on social networks, evoking lost hotel reservations and ruined holidays, yet so expected after the two years of pandemic.

The union rejects an agreement recently signed by the three other union organizations affiliated with cabin crew (PNC), including the CGT, the only representative union.

This agreement provides for « improvement of working conditions on tiring rotations and exceptional measures of purchasing power », said a spokesperson for the Air France-KLM subsidiary, which says it has around 1,400 cabin crew members. The customer satisfaction bonus has thus increased from 500 to 1,000 euros annually, and the transport bonus as well as the purchasing power bonus have been increased, which is equivalent to an « increase of around 5% for low salaries », according to management. .

A schedule of discussions has also been set and meetings scheduled to ensure « monitoring of so-called tiring rotations », according to the company.

The SNPNC is demanding a general and permanent increase in wages now, which the company refuses to negotiate before the start of 2023 because it says it is constrained by state-guaranteed loans (PGE).