Strike-hit Air France has found itself at odds with the government over the fate of the company’s low-cost carrier Transavia. The French transport minister says plans for the subsidiary’s expansion were abandoned. The company denied that within minutes.
The French Transport secretary Alain Vidalies said in a radio
interview that the airline had withdrawn its plans for Transavia
expansion.
"The Transavia Europe project has been abandoned,"
Vidalies told RMC radio, as cited by Reuters. "It isn't
suspended for three months, it's been withdrawn by
management."
Soon after that, however, Air France’s spokesman Cedric Leurquin
told journalists that the minister’s announcement was a
"premature" one.
"There is no change in the negotiations to suggest that this
project has been withdrawn," the spokesman said, according
to AFP. "The proposal on the table remains to freeze this
project and to begin a wide dialogue with social partners between
now and the end of the year, as management announced on
Monday."
Confusion over the fate of Air France’s low-cost off-shoot comes
amid the ongoing strike by the company’s pilots, which started
last Monday and has been the longest one the company has
experienced since 1998.
Strike action: #AirFrance traffic forecast: 46% of flights due to operate on 24/09 #atyourservicehttp://t.co/bMbIJIARWX
— Air France Newsroom (@AFnewsroom) September 23, 2014
Air France’s pilots have been opposing the plans to expand the
low-cost flights of the Transavia brand and establishing foreign
bases for it, as they believe the move would undermine their
salaries and working conditions. They can currently earn up to
250,000 euro (approximately US$320,000) a year, which is
considerably more than what Transavia pilots are paid.
The strike that has already lasted for 10 days is causing the
airline to lose up to 20 million euro ($26 million) daily, the
company says.
France’s Prime Minister, Manuel Valls, called on the pilots to
end their strike on Tuesday, warning that their walk-out
“damages the image of France and represents a real danger for
the company.”