AF pilots begin week-long strike

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FrugalFlyerv2.0

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Oct 29, 2003
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The pilots are protesting against a transfer of jobs by the airline to a low-cost carrier to keep up with competition.
The airline said it would consider negotiation on benefits based on seniority for Air France pilots who agree to work for Transavia. However, it said it would not agree to trade union demands that the contracts of Transavia pilots carry the same terms as those flying under Air France.
http://www.bbc.com/news/business-29202675


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Interesting stuff going on in Europe.
I believe Transavia started off as a charter operator, gaining about 50% of the Dutch holiday market prior to being acquired by KLM in the 1990s. About 10 years ago their role (charter airline --> low cost airline) started to exanded. The article also states that LH pilots will be striking again too.
 
uh... the lessons for the middle class would have been to stop the growth of low cost carriers within Europe and to have blocked access to the Middle East carriers, both of which started years ago.

Air France's financial problems like Lufthansa's (whose pilots will strike tomorrow as well - I'm not sure when or if two of the big Euro carriers have been on strike at the same) are due to intense competition which has been focused on Europe unlike even what happened in the US.

The European carriers were somewhat insulated because LCCs/ULCCs had a harder time gaining access to the largest hubs due to slots but US carriers did not face the threat the Euro flag carriers are facing from the Middle East.

Striking might escalate awareness of the plight of the big European carriers to the parts of the public that didn't see it coming but the competitive battles started years ago that are now forcing major changes to the way the European carriers operate.

It is no exaggeration at all to say that the future of a number of major names in European aviation is at stake.
 
The AF pilots strike continues ..............
http://www.bbc.com/news/business-29304278
 
The pilots' strike will enter its second week on Monday.
It is due to run until Friday, but the SNPL pilots' union has warned it could be extended further if talks fail.
The airline estimates the strike, which started last Monday, is costing up to 15m euros (£12m) a day.
On Monday Air France expects to operate 41% of its flights.
 
AF/KL management surrenders: http://www.bbc.com/news/business-29309899

Air France has said it is suspending until December its plan to develop its budget carrier, Transavia, in an effort to end a pilots' strike over the move.
The strike is the airline's longest since 1998 and has been costing the firm 15m euros (£11.8m; $19.3m) a day.
Mr de Juniac ... ... ... told Le Monde newspaper the strike was "disastrous" for the airline.
 
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AF/KL mgmt. will have to decide what the next step is but they have been losing hundreds of millions of dollars per year on their short/medium haul network.

You seem to be unable to admit that companies cannot pay their employees for operations on which they cannot make money; there is no "investment" that AF will make in its employees because there is no money to invest.

They either figure out a way to get their costs down or they shut down.

There is no US style BK they can use to terminate the contract or wipe out debts they have accumulated as a result of running a money losing operation for years but they do have other tools they can use that would not otherwise be used in the US.

AF/KL is not backing off their position that they have to fix their cost problem on their intra-European network.

The company obviously miscalculated about the resolve of labor but they will regroup. They have "invested" several hundred million Euros in their efforts to restructure their network as a result of their strike.

The only real question for your employer is how AF's restructuring impacts DL. After years of believing that funneling traffic thru a European partner is an ideal way to serve the market, it may very well be to DL and other US' carriers' advantage to restart some of those spoke routes that are either operated only on a seasonal basis or have been pulled down.

LH has to deal with the same issue and BA has less capacity to grow its network in continental Europe because of LHR capacity limitations so what happens with the Euro carriers as they restructure their European operations absolutely impacts US carriers and their employees.

In the meantime, AF pilots (who aren't necessarily supported by other workgroups) are helping AF transfer a whole lot of wealth from AF to other carriers including DL.

that money is permanently gone from AF's bank accounts. To think that AF can now increase pay or back away from its need to restructure its money losing operations is fanciful at best.
 
http://www.bbc.com/news/business-29309899

Air France pilots say they will pursue their strike indefinitely, rejecting the airline's offer to attempt to resolve the dispute.
Air France offered to suspend plans to expand its budget carrier Transavia.
But the pilots' SNPL union described that move as a "smokescreen" that offered no more guarantees than previous offers.
Pilots fear the expansion of Transavia will drive down their wages.
Earlier this month the company announced a plan to more the double then number of passengers carried by Transavia by 2017 and expand its operations outside France.
In hubs outside France pilots are hired under local employment terms, which can be less generous than at core Air France operations.
 
WorldTraveler said:
After years of believing that funneling traffic thru a European partner is an ideal way to serve the market, it may very well be to DL and other US' carriers' advantage to restart some of those spoke routes that are either operated only on a seasonal basis or have been pulled down.
Click to expand...
But how many of those European cities to which passengers are currently flown 1-stop via a EU partner hub could realistically support non-stop service to the USA?
I would say maybe a couple at best and definitely not on a daily basis.
 
http://www.bbc.com/news/business-29309899

Air France pilots say they will pursue their strike indefinitely, rejecting the airline's offer to attempt to resolve the dispute.
Air France offered to suspend plans to expand its budget carrier Transavia.
But the pilots' SNPL union described that move as a "smokescreen" that offered no more guarantees than previous offers.
Pilots fear the expansion of Transavia will drive down their wages.
Earlier this month the company announced a plan to more the double then number of passengers carried by Transavia by 2017 and expand its operations outside France.
In hubs outside France pilots are hired under local employment terms, which can be less generous than at core Air France operations.
Click to expand...
which means that AF better either be counting on the government to bail them out (not likely) or are willing to restructure the company and break the pilot group.

It hasn't happened often in the airline industry but it is very possible that AF might have decided that they will lock out the pilots and rebuild the company the way they want.

it is also possible that AF could have investors lined up to invest in the company as necessary to bridge the losses and make AF into the lowest cost of the big 3 Euro flags.


BTW, KLM is still part of the same company, they are not on strike - although their European/TATL network like DL's is running at maximum RPMs, and we are going into the winter season. It is VERY possible that AF decided this is as good of a time as any to stand up to the pilots and DL and KL are prepared to carry the load while AF is restructured.

KL can carry a lot of traffic that DL can't carry on a nonstop basis but you can absolutely bet that there is a market for DL to fly a lot more nonstop traffic than they carry. All you have to do is look at the flights on DL and other carriers that are now full as a result of the strike to realize that there is a lot of traffic that AF carries over CDG that is being rerouted elsewhere to see the demand that actually exists.


we'll see how it all plays out but AF doesn't seem at all interested in backing down from their stated goal of restructuring AF's short/medium haul ops.
 
http://www.bbc.com/news/business-29361699
Air France and pilots' union SNPL have resumed talks in the hope of resolving the 11-day strike that is costing the airline up to 15m euros (£11.8m) a day. The two parties are discussing a counter-offer made by the union following the airline's proposal to scrap plans to expand its Transavia low-cost airline in Europe.
 
AF Pilots End Strike
http://www.bbc.com/news/business-29401056
Air France pilots have called off a strike that has lasted for two weeks and cost the airline hundreds of millions of euros.
Pilots' union SNPL and the airline have yet to reach an agreement over a dispute about the carrier's plans to expand its budget subsidiary Transavia.
However, a union spokesman said it was ending the strike so negotiations could "continue in a calmer climate".
Although the strike is now over, the two parties failed to resolve their differences during weekend talks.
_______________________
 
So 2 weeks later, it looks like things are almost the same as they were before. 
The pilots could try to claim victory I suppose that AF/KL will not expand Transavia EU-wide.  But on the other hand management will still establish a low cost subsidiary and the pilots flying those planes will be lower paid than AF/KL pilots.
To me it looks like the whole strike was pointless.
 
it did wonders to enrich the pockets of others.

DL should release its traffic statistics later this week for the month of Feb but they will likely show very healthy increases over the Atlantic.

now that the strike is settled and DL won't be subject to charges of supporting AF-KL mgmt., DL is running a couple 744 extra sections tonite and tomorrow to help AF clear the backlog of passengers.

AF schedules appear to be returning to normal tomorrow and later in the week.

DL operated no extra flights during the strike nor did they upgrade any flights.

KL has also been running very heavy loads for 2 solid weeks.
 
WorldTraveler said:
it did wonders to enrich the pockets of others.

DL should release its traffic statistics later this week for the month of Feb but they will likely show very healthy increases over the Atlantic.

now that the strike is settled and DL won't be subject to charges of supporting AF-KL mgmt., DL is running a couple 744 extra sections tonite and tomorrow to help AF clear the backlog of passengers.

AF schedules appear to be returning to normal tomorrow and later in the week.

DL operated no extra flights during the strike nor did they upgrade any flights.

KL has also been running very heavy loads for 2 solid weeks.
Click to expand...
They can't. DALPA would not allow it. (and it is part of the contract that Delta can't force pilots to fly work for OALs when they have work groups on strike) 
 
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