The strike by pilots of Hop !, a regional subsidiary of Air France, is expected to cause little disruption Monday, February 24, the airline’s management said on Sunday.
According to a spokesperson interviewed by Agence France-Presse (AFP), the “Totality” flights to and from Paris-Charles-de-Gaulle and Paris-Orly should be provided, as well as ” almost all “ flights from French regions. Hop! provides part of Air France’s domestic connections and serves flights between French regions and Europe.
The disturbances will neither “Long-haul flights” or “Short and medium-haul flights operated by Air France Airbus aircraft”, says the parent company on its website. Air France offers travelers who wish to postpone their trip free of charge.
Other days of action
Faced with the reduction in the fleet and the removal of the Hop! Brand, pilots are worried about their careers and jobs. The National Union of Air Line Pilots (SNPL), the first pilots’ union of this subsidiary, calls a strike to demand better wages and working conditions, closer to those of Air France pilots. He also wants to see “Perpetuated” from 2020 the transfer each year of 70 pilots to Air France and offers transitional solutions, when management seeks to limit these departures in order to preserve its activity, according to Emelyne Fronteau, president of SNPL Hop !.
The union had filed in late December a strike notice of 144 hours spread over twelve days, postponed the time to discuss with the management of Hop !. The latter proposed a wage increase of 3%, deemed insufficient by the union.
The notice runs from Monday, from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m., and the strike must continue on other days, the next one being Thursday, AFP Mme Fronteau. “More than half of the drivers are hired on Monday”, she says.
Some social turmoil
Founded in 2013, Hop! employs around 2,500 people, including 750 pilots. The company is the result of the merger of three former regional subsidiaries of Air France (Brit Air, Regional and Airlinair). The pilots’ last strike was in the summer of 2017.
Air France has been rocked in recent days by social unrest, which has become rare since the arrival of Ben Smith at the helm of Air France-KLM. The tricolor company thus experienced Friday and Saturday stoppages at its stopovers in Orly and in the regions at the call of the unions of the Air France short-haul network (CGT, FO, CFDT, CFE-CGC and UNSA), mobilized against the increased use of subcontracting after several voluntary departure plans.
This call was “Very well attended in Nantes, Toulouse and Bordeaux”said Christophe Malloggi of FO Air France to AFP. The management did not communicate the rate of strikers but stressed that “The entire flight schedule” had been insured.
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