Transavia France forced to cancel up to a third of flights due to strike action

Nearly a third of Transavia France flights are cancelled on Friday and Saturday, and a quarter on Sunday, due to a strike over pay called by a flight attendants' union, the low-cost airline company said.

Transavia aircraft. (Illustration photo) © Reuters/Charles Platiau

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

The strike, called by the SNPNC union, began on Thursday and is due to end on Sunday evening.

The exasperation of customers whose flights were cancelled was palpable on social networks, with reports of lost hotel bookings and ruined holidays, long awaited after the two-year pandemic.

The union rejects an agreement recently signed by the three other trade unions affiliated to the cabin crew, including the CGT, the only representative union.

The agreement provides for "improved working conditions on tiring rotations and exceptional purchasing power measures", said a spokesman for the Air France-KLM subsidiary, which says it has around 1,400 cabin crew.

The customer satisfaction bonus has been increased from 500 to 1,000 euros per year, and the transport bonus and the purchasing power bonus have been increased, which is equivalent to an "increase of around 5 percent for low salaries", according to the management.

A schedule for discussions has also been drawn up and meetings scheduled to ensure a "follow-up of so-called tiring rotations", according to the company.

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