Govt contradicts AF on low-cost plans

PARIS Confusion swirled over Air France’s plan for its low-cost subsidiary that has been at the heart of a bitter and costly strike on Wednesday, as the government and management contradicted each other within minutes.
As the strike at Europe’s second-biggest flag carrier stretched into its 10th day, Transport Minister Alain Vidalies told French radio the airline had scrapped plans to expand its Transavia budget subsidiary.
“The Transavia Europe project has been abandoned by management,” Vidalies told RMC radio.
But within minutes, an Air France spokesman told AFP it was “premature” to say the airline had buried the plans to develop its budget subsidiary, which it sees as vital to survive in the cut-throat world of low-cost aviation.
“There is no change in the negotiations to suggest that this project has been withdrawn,” a spokesman told AFP.
“The proposal on the table remains to freeze this project and to begin a wide dialogue with social partners between now and the end of the year, as management announced on Monday,” added the spokesman.
In a bid to raise the pressure on management and unions to break the deadlock, Prime Minister Manuel Valls urged a solution “in the coming hours,” warning that “Air France is in danger”.
The confusion between the government and management of the airline — which is nearly 16% state-owned — appeared to mirror the disruption that has gripped air travellers in France for more than a week.
As in previous days, more than half of Air France flights were cancelled nationwide but the situation at some regional airports was much worse, with 80 and 70% of flights scrapped at the southern airports of Nice and Toulouse respectively.
In what it described as a “last” offer to break the deadlock, as the strike stretched into a second week, management on Monday offered to put the project on hold until December.

sourced:ttrweekly.com