Lufthansa, Air France – these name-brand European airlines today mean one combined word: STRIKE.
The pilots are carrying out a strike over Air France’s plans to expand the low-cost operations of its Transavia brand by setting up foreign bases as it seeks to fight back against fierce competition from budget carriers.
Jean-Louis Barber, head of the Air France section of the SNPL pilots union, told Le Monde newspaper it may vote to extend the strike beyond a previously set limit of Sept. 22.
Air France-KLM Chief Executive Alexandre de Juniac said just 42 percent of flights would operate as pilots and management prepared for a new round of negotiations on Thursday.
Later on Thursday, Air France said it anticipated a “slight improvement” in its traffic for Friday which would allow it to run more than 45 percent of its scheduled flights.
Air France is trying to boost its earnings by expanding Transavia but says that in doing so it is not trying to replace Air France.
The SNPL union has said its members are worried the company will abandon Transavia’s development in France, blaming them, and focus on its expansion elsewhere in Europe, moving jobs outside the country.
In each hub where Transavia operates, pilots will work under local employment terms, which entail higher wages and more favorable conditions in France than in, say, Portugal.
The dispute highlights discrepancies in wages, labor conditions and welfare coverage between European countries which are theoretically part of a single market for goods and services, but in fact compete with each other for jobs.
The strike is costing the company 10 million to 15 million euros ($12.9-$19.3 million) per day.
