As the pilots' strike enters its second week, with a cancellation rate of over 50%, Air France management is giving ground. In a press release published on Monday, in which it reiterates that it "can only note the deadlock in the situation", Air France management announces the "suspension of the project to create Transavia subsidiaries in Europe (excluding France and the Netherlands), while an in-depth dialogue is opened on the project and we work together to build the necessary guarantees by the end of the year". At the same time, the group is threatening to terminate the agreement to create Transavia France "if the pilots' organisations do not join the project on the economically and socially acceptable terms proposed to them". Air France does not intend to give in on the heart of the problem, and explicitly points out that "the pilots' organisations' demand to use Air France pilots on Air France terms and conditions on the Transavia network and to replace the 44 existing Boeing 737s with Airbus A320s would inevitably lead to the failure of Transavia France".
However, the company refutes the "unfounded" accusations of relocation and social dumping - "erroneous interpretations" - and "confirms that the development of Transavia in France will not impact the point-to-point activity on the French domestic network [and] will not feed the Air France hub at Paris-Charles de Gaulle". Management now intends to open a full process of explanation and negotiation with the Air France and KLM social partners, while reaffirming its ambition for its low-cost subsidiary: "To stay in the European race, we have no alternative to the rapid development of Transavia" notes Alexandre de Juniac, who adds: "We are now giving ourselves the means to explain and accelerate its growth from France. The Air France-KLM Group is reaffirming its target of more than 100 Transavia aircraft by 2017.
The SNPL was quick to react: in the wake of the press release, the union published a call for action with the evocative title: "Alexandre de Juniac's final provocation to the pilots". The SNPL commented: "There is no coherence in the strategy: Alexandre de Juniac claims to be creating a European low-cost airline in consultation with the Air France pilots but, at the same time, is announcing the denunciation of an agreement signed by the SNPL Air France. This announcement is nothing more than a smokescreen that offers no more guarantees than previous announcements, and solves no problems," adds the press release, which calls on pilots to gather on Tuesday to reaffirm their opposition to the project.
