The Minister of Transport wishes to learn the lessons of a summer marked by strikes throughout the air sector.
The Minister Delegate for Transport called on the air sector to develop a “action plan” after the “unsatisfactory situations“Experienced according to him by passengers in recent months, in particular lost luggage. In a letter addressed to professional organisations, revealed by RTL, Clément Beaune welcomed the “dynamism“found this summer by air transport in France, with traffics”close to 2019“, before the Covid-19 crisis.
Noting that the summer season had taken place in a “uncertain context“, Clément Beaune noted that”the impact on passenger reception conditions (…) could be limited“. “However, and despite these efforts, events of various kinds have led in recent months to unsatisfactory situations in terms of passenger handling.“, regretted the minister. A strike by Paris airport staff on July 1 resulted in 35,000 pieces of luggage.lost“, of which a thousand have still not been returned.
A summer marked by an intra-European strike movement
The summer was also marked in Europe by social movements in certain companies and among air traffic controllers, as well as by saturated airports, delays and cancellations as a result. “Following the difficulties observed in France and other European hubs, I asked the Directorate General for Civil Aviation to lead the development of an action plan (…) relating to the management of baggage, flight delays and cancellations, as well as compensation due to passengersadded Clément Beaune. The Minister said he wanted to learn the lessons of the summer and “prepare for the next seasonal peaks by offering travelers the quality of service they are entitled to expect“.
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The general delegate of the National Federation of Aviation and its trades (Fnam), which brings together the French companies, took note of the letter of which his organization was in particular the recipient. But Laurent Timsit considered that the French aviation sector had “well behaved this summer», compared to other European countries. “There have certainly been a few events rightly publicized“, like the luggage of Roissy, declared Laurent Timsit, judging that the responsibility for these malfunctions was”shared“and not only because of the airlines, “far from there“. Overall, the systemwas really resilient when everyone was saying it was going to be catastrophic“, assured Laurent Timsit.