Call for strikes, canceled flights or even a shortage of flight personnel… After two years of health restrictions, the civil aviation economy, which is experiencing the worst crisis in its history for 70 years, continues to pay the price. .
Aircrew shortages and strikes
If the French wish to take the plane to go into exile outside France this summer, their vacation plans could well be compromised. With soaring prices, the workers’ strike and the social crisis of the model low cost, the air system struggles to take flight again.
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Like the hospital environment, the airline sector is under pressure. The pace of work “unsustainable” air hostesses and stewards, airport security officers, baggage handlers and escorts, has led to repeated strikes. In addition to aircrew, several professions in the aviation sector are understaffed. Maximilien Dubois, CDG Alliance studies coordinator, points out that “one of the jobs with the most tension is a security officer. There were 6,600 at CDG at the end of 2019. There were only 5,400 at the end of 2021. That is a drop of 18%”, relates Le Parisien.
Social movements are expected throughout the summer period. At Ryanair, the employees of three French bases filed a “unlimited strike notice for July 14 and summer departure waves”, reports Le Parisien. At Aéroports de Paris (ADP) and in security companies, we are calling for a real salary increase. Mobilized in numbers on June 9, airport staff did not obtain the 300 euros requested. Also, they had decided to relaunch a new strike on July 1st.
On the side of EasyJet, the pilots warn against the risk of massive cancellations of flights due to a lack of sufficient manpower, “mainly with the hostesses and stewards and a little with the captains”.
Other airlines are also in shambles caused by the consequences of health restrictions. According to Liberation, “Amsterdam-Schiphol wants to reduce its capacity by 30%, Lufthansa will cancel 3,000 flights in July and August, Air Canada has 154 fewer flights per day over the same period, with three destinations purely and simply suspended”.
Collapse of the global aviation sector since the Covid crisis
“It is one of the economic sectors that has suffered the most from the Covid crisis”, announced Les Échos in January 2022. Some hoped that the civil aviation community would catch its breath… but the turbulence persists. Between the flights canceled due to health restrictions, the waves of layoffs in 2020 and the flight crew subject to the vaccination obligation by certain airlines, the sector is experiencing its worst crisis for 70 years.
According to Sergio Colella, President of SITA Europe, “The losses at the global level are 200 billion dollars over two years for airlines and airports. This is unheard of” (BFM TV). For his part, Antoine Godier, spokesperson for the National Union of Airline Pilots (SNPL), does not hide his concern: “The whole air system is seized up. The situation on the ground has consequences for aircraft departures. When a link weakens, the whole chain collapses”. According to Sharon Graham, general secretary of the British trade union Unite, “the consequences of the massive layoffs are now chronic labor shortages in all trades”.
On the other hand, if ticket prices are always higher in summer, the repercussions of the Covid-19 crisis and the war in Ukraine have led to galloping inflation which affects the entire air network. But yet, despite the heavy financial losses, some airlines had still imposed the vaccination obligation for their flight personnel, under penalty of work suspension.
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Side effects that always worry
To counter the so-called policy “No jab, no job” (no vaccination, no job), collectives that bring together pilots and scientists on a global scale, have formed to sound the alarm on the risks associated with vaccines.
See also: Pilots and scientists come together worldwide to warn of the risks of vaccination
Without making a direct link with the inoculation, part of the press mainstream spoke of worrying health signals among flight personnel. In Florida, the story of a young passenger with no flight experience took over the controls after the pilot became unwell, reports Ouest France. According to Le Parisien, the pilot of a private plane in Morbihan suffered a cardiac arrest in mid-flight, and it was one of the passengers who also regained control of the aircraft. At American Airways, a major disaster was narrowly averted. According to reports last April, an online pilot’s heart stopped due to what was described as a “severe post-vaccination cardiac arrest”.
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