Strike at EasyJet: around a hundred flights canceled in France for the weekend of August 15

Hard blow for Easyjet travelers. This weekend of August 15, many users of the low-cost airline risk finding themselves in difficulty, due to the strike of hostesses and stewards. “Around a hundred flights departing from France” were “cancelled as a precaution on Saturday and Sunday,” the company indicated to Le Figaro this Friday, confirming information from Ici-Île-de-France. “We have preventively canceled around a hundred flights departing from France on Saturday and Sunday in order to help passengers organize themselves before their departure, in particular by offering them a free transfer to another flight,” specifies the company.

So far, flight information on the EasyJet website shows “at least 98 flights canceled over the weekend, including 47 on Saturday and 51 on Sunday”, or “more than half of the scheduled flights”, William Bourdon, an official of the SNPNC-FO union, told AFP. “The movement is very popular,” he added, indicating that 68% of the approximately 340 EasyJet cabin crew (commercial cabin crew) in France scheduled for this weekend have declared themselves on strike, with mobilizations varying depending on the regional bases. For example, thirty flights are canceled in Lyon, 23 in Roissy Charles-de-Gaulle and 5 in Bordeaux.

The inter-union group bringing together the SNPNC-FO, the UNPNC-CFDT and the UNAC-CFE-CGC called a strike on Wednesday on August 14 and 15 after the failure of discussions on Wednesday with management on improving working conditions. The three unions had previously filed a strike notice covering the period from August 7 to September 2, citing a “continuous deterioration” of working conditions.

In a reaction on Wednesday, the low-cost British company called on the unions “to abandon this opportunistic action at such an important time of the year”, with the weekend of August 15 promising to be very busy in transport. EasyJet says it has submitted “proposed adjustments” aimed at responding to union demands. The company, which emphasizes that “negotiations are planned for September”, believes that the strike action occurs “outside of any formal negotiation process”.

For months, unions have been denouncing the instability of schedules, last-minute changes, imposed “tripping” (a series of flights over several days), particularly penalizing rotations and the absence of protective measures. The previous call for a strike within EasyJet France for Easter Monday in April had very limited consequences on air traffic.

Second airline in France in terms of number of passengers behind Air France, EasyJet is present mainly in short and medium haul. With its French bases, including Paris, Lyon and Nice, it transports millions of passengers to and from France each year. It relies on several thousand employees in France, including a significant proportion of commercial flight crews. France is one of its main markets in continental Europe, where EasyJet has significantly developed its activities in recent years, facing the decline of other players in the sector and the resumption of air traffic after the Covid-19 crisis.