Difficulties in sight for the staff of Aigle Azur and XL Airways

The disappearance of two French airlines, Aigle Azur and XL Airways, will put about 2,000 people on the job market, at a time when unions denounce social dumping in air transport and the withdrawal of the state.

"The French flag is not the most beautiful", summarizes with AFP Jean Hédou, secretary general of the FO federation for air transport. It anticipates reclassification difficulties for the staff of Aigle Azur and XL Airways, saying that "airlines will take the opportunity to practice social dumping by lowering the cost of labor".

For its part, the National Federation of the commercial aviation (Fnam) which represents the whole of the branch, is reassuring, ensuring that "everyone is ready to make a gesture". "The companies are willing to recruit and the redeployment cells should be set up by the end of next week", says one.

"The unions will also try to make placement," said Hedou.

The situation is not the same for all categories of staff. Thus, for Philippe Nègre, vice-president of the section of the National Union of airline pilots (SNPL) XL Airways, the situation of the 85 pilots of his former company, like that of the old Aigle Azur, is complicated.

"There is some hope for co-drivers because there are needs," he says. "On the other hand, there is a problem with the commanders because the French companies that need commanders give priority to their own co-pilots, only Air France could take it".

For their part, the Unac sections (aircrafts) of the companies concerned asked Air France to be interested in the fate of the hostesses and stewards of XL Airways and Aigle Azur.

Mr Nègre also hopes for accompanying measures. With the other unions, he asked for an appointment with the secretary of state for transport, Jean-Baptiste Djebbari.

Aigle Azur represents 1,100 jobs and XL Airways 600, to which must be added several hundred jobs in groundhandling.

– Wanted mechanics –

In terms of recruitment, each company has its own criteria, especially with regard to flying staff, it is pointed out at Fnam, which is also a contrasting situation of the labor market in the industry.

With the current development of air transport, recruitment prospects in the sector are important, especially for mechanics, she says.

More generally, it also highlights the fact that the air transport workforce is aging, with 25% of today's employees retiring in ten years. The sector estimates that this will require at least the recruitment of 22,000 people to cover these departures and growth, including 4,000 to 4,500 in the short term.

And yet, recalls Fnam, the French air sector has lost 11,000 jobs in France over the last five years, and 16,000 are threatened over the next five. The majority of these destruction concerns qualified jobs in French companies.

At the root of this paradox, French aircrew costs among the highest in the world, social contributions higher than the European average and an overtaxation of French companies.

Fnam also points to low-cost companies that, with no staff based in France, operate from France without paying social security contributions.

The same statement in FO denounces "excessive taxation of French airlines, which creates a distortion of competition" and "an administration, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation, which tolerates or even encourages the social dumping of foreign low-cost airlines ".

"In France, air transport has lost thousands of jobs because we accept that the French governments have resigned themselves to drop the French flag," accuses Hedou.