The Spanish low-cost airline Volotea could experience significant disruption in France this weekend. The SNPL, UNAC and SPL trade unions have called on pilots and cabin crew to strike from Friday 4 to Sunday 6 September.
The impact is expected to be significant, as 60% of Volotea’s business is based in France. Volotea operates from around fifteen cities across France, with particularly high volumes of traffic in Bordeaux (27 destinations), Brest (15 destinations), Lille (40 destinations), Nantes (10 destinations) and Strasbourg (21 destinations). At Paris Orly, Volotea operates flights to ten destinations, including domestic flights to Limoges, Lourdes and Rodez.
The company in fact carried 7.2 million passengers in France in 2025 across some 290 routes. It is a key player in French air transport with more than nine million seats on offer this summer on a network that flirts with 300 air routes.
However, this success seems to have been built on the backs of its staff. That at least is what trade unions are condemning, speaking of a persistent deterioration in working conditions and an inadequate level of pay. They consider that discussions with management have not made it possible to unblock the main issues.
In a press release, the SNPL states that the negotiations initiated several years ago have only led to limited progress. The union is calling in particular for a pay rise and better recognition of the crews' workload.
According to the trade unions, the pay scale for pilots has not been revised since 2012. Speaking on France Info, Patrick Marciniak, SNPL representative at Volotea, pointed out that cumulative inflation since then has exceeded 25%, whilst salaries have not kept pace with this rise.
Also on France Info, the union cites an independent source stating that the salaries of first officers and captains can be up to 50% lower than the average offered by other airlines operating in France. The union also complains that crews are working at the very limits of the regulations governing flight safety – in many cases, six days a week.
The strike could have a significant impact, given France’s importance to Volotea’s business. The French market accounts for around 60% of the airline’s business.
At this stage, however, Volotea has not published a general list of cancelled flights for the three days of strikes. The actual scale of the disruption will depend in particular on crew availability and any measures taken by the airline to maintain its schedule.
Passengers travelling between 4 and 6 September are therefore advised to check their flight before heading to the airport, notably via the official Volotea flight online page.
