EasyJet cancellations hit France as cabin crew strike disrupts weekend travel
This weekend, around a hundred EasyJet flights departing from France were canceled due to a cabin crew strike that was massively observed on Saturday and Sunday, with personnel denouncing rosters that are continually revised, sometimes the day before for the next day.
“About 100 flights planned for the entire weekend were canceled in advance” and “alternative options” were offered to customers, such as “the possibility of a free transfer to another flight,” said a spokesperson for the British low-cost carrier to AFP.
“At least 98 flights were canceled over the weekend, including 47 on Saturday and 51 on Sunday,” meaning “more than half of the scheduled flights,” clarified William Bourdon, a leader of the SNPNC-FO union, citing EasyJet’s website.
“The movement is very widely followed,” he commented, noting that 68% of the roughly 340 cabin crew (piloting and cabin crew) planned for this weekend joined the strike. In Lyon, a hot spot of the movement, 85% of Saturday’s flight program was canceled, Julien Jean, a SNPNC-FO union representative in that regional base, told AFP.
“Our main demand is the stability of rosters. For example, at bases like Lyon, some cabin crew face 50 to 60 changes to their schedules per week,” Bourdon explained.
The EasyJet France inter-union called for a strike on August 14 and 15 after talks with management failed to yield progress on improving working conditions.
The three unions had previously filed a strike notice covering the period from August 7 to September 2.
Second only to Air France in terms of passenger numbers in France, EasyJet transports millions of people to and from France each year.
France is one of its main markets on continental Europe, where EasyJet has heavily developed its activities in recent years, in the face of the retreat of other players in the sector and the rebound in air traffic after the Covid-19 crisis.
