Transavia Experiences Capacity Problems and Flight Cancellations Due to Delays in Leased Aircraft Delivery

Already 15,000 travelers have taken their flight in the past week cancelled seen by Transavia. The airline is experiencing capacity problems. During the May holiday, 37 flights were canceled at Eindhoven Airport within a week. Transavia has canceled dozens of flights every week since the beginning of April, “a handful” every day.

Travelers should expect more cancellations in May and June, the company warns. “The five extra leased aircraft that we hired for this summer are delivered too late,” says Marcel de Nooijer, Transavia’s CEO. “We are doing everything we can to return to a stable fleet situation. We hope to inform people who travel in June at the end of this week or early next week whether their flight will continue.”

The fact that aircraft fail is not unusual in itself, according to the company, there are normally an average of two aircraft on the ground. But of the 45 aircraft that Transavia has, eight cannot be used at the moment.

One of the aircraft is not flying because maintenance is required. That takes longer due to delivery problems, the necessary parts are delayed. According to aviation expert Joris Melkert, this is because the supply chain has been disrupted by corona, just like in many other sectors. “So it makes sense that many parts are taking longer to arrive.”

There are also three aircraft on the ground that are not allowed to fly. These are aircraft that have been taken over from a bankrupt Romanian company, whose papers are not yet in order. In addition, three planes have been hit by ground vehicles, one of them last weekend. Yet another aircraft was struck by lightning, rendering it unable to fly at this time.

Buying new planes won’t solve the problems this holiday season, at least. There are really no quick solutions.

“There is a general shortage of aircraft in the world. Deliveries of new aircraft have been delayed, builders have cut production during the pandemic,” said Rico Luman, Transport and Logistics economist at ING Research. “And even now, production is still less than they planned. This means that airlines are facing delays in new deliveries again.”

Many aircraft of companies are leased, so they are not owned by Transavia, for example. The purchase price of a new aircraft is between 100 and 400 million euros, depending on the type of aircraft. By leasing, companies do not have to pay for that large purchase in one go.

Luman: “Normally there is some spare capacity. Then there is flexibility to switch, to rent extra aircraft from leasing companies. But they do not have an offer at the moment. If there is a peak season such as the May or summer holidays, you run quickly against limits. With Transavia it is a combination of circumstances, which is bad luck and unfortunate for travelers.”

According to Hendrik Noorderhaven, director of EU claims, it is unusual that Air France-KLM, which Transavia falls under, does not intervene. “We thought KLM and Air France had the capacity to help.”

It is not only Transavia that has to deal with capacity problems. Ryanair, Lufthansa and United Airlines also have too few aircraft available, says Luman.

Ryanair canceled flights from Eindhoven Airport in recent days, although it is not clear whether this is due to problems with the aircraft. The cancellations could also be related to strikes in France, where air traffic control joins the protest against the proposed higher retirement age in the country.

The ING economist expects that the capacity problems in aviation will continue next year. “The market expects the demand for air travel to continue to increase, then you need more capacity and aircraft. And there are none.”

KLM Cityhopper and low-cost airline easyJet are not yet experiencing problems. Transavia says it wants to build up “more reserve capacity” in the coming months.