Benjamin Smith sees Transavia a key element in a strategy to improve the Group's short-haul business. The ramp-up of the low-cost subsidiary is being tested first in the French domestic market.. During his speech, Benjamin Smith explained that it would enable the Air France-KLM group to turn around a deficit situation on domestic routes. Air France's losses on this network are close to 200 million euros.
" Transavia has a very similar construction to easyJet and with the Flying Blue combinationour loyalty programme, this creates a very powerful offering" said Mr Smith. " We believe that, in the short term, we should be able to generate profits on domestic routes" he explained during the conference.
Air France has already transferred several domestic routes to Transavia since November. These areOrly-Biarritz as well as the Nantes to Marseille, Montpellier, Nice and Toulouse.
Eventually, all Air France-KLM routes from Orly swill be transferred to the low-cost carrier. At Orly, Air France will only operate shuttle services to Marseille, Nice and Toulouse, as well as services to Corsica. It will also continue to offer domestic services to Roissy under its own flag.
A future in Europe
Once Transavia has made its domestic operations profitable, Benjamin Smith predicts expansion of the company's international network. It would then densify its Europe offering at the same time from Orly and regional airports.
Of the programme planned for 2021 in OrlyTransavia has around fifty destinations. But only a dozen or so link the Paris hub to major European cities or capitals.
Lyon has around twenty routes, all leisure routes with the exception ofAthens and Lisbon. Transavia also offers twenty destinations from Montpellier. For business travellers, the offer includes routes to Brest, BrusselsLille, Lisbon, MadridRome and Strasbourg.
Nantes offers a comprehensive range of services to nearly 35 destinations. Many European capitals and cities are already served in high season, including Berlin, Budapest, Geneva, Istanbul, Lisbon and Rome. In addition to the domestic routes taken over from Air France, Transavia also connects Nantes with Lille and Strasbourg.
