Will the Omicron variant affect airline activity? For now, Air France-KLM seems to be in the eye of the storm. This zone of temporary calm that precedes the storm. Its results would even be a little above those of 2020 at this time. According to the company, its level of activity, stuck at 79% of that of 2019, would be “A little higher than the average level of December 2020”, which had peaked at 76%.
But this relative lull may not last. Faced with the Omicron wave, flight cancellations are counting in the thousands within airlines around the world. After more than 8,000 flights canceled during the Christmas weekend, 2,100 additional flights suffered the same fate on Monday, December 27, to which are already added 700 flights canceled for December 28. Monday, Air France maintained its program with 1,385 flights planned for the next weekend, a 30% increase compared to the first weekend of January 2021.
“We are not seeing a wave of cancellations” ticket purchases, says the company, which however notes “A small slowdown in reservations”. In other words, they go down, but do not collapse. The trend could accelerate, however, in the coming days. “We are more in a logic of short-term or even very short-term reservations. Customers return to a wait-and-see situation. They do not project themselves into the future ”, explains the company.
Staff particularly affected
If the passengers are still present, it is the pilots, hostesses and stewards who may soon be lacking. According to our information, cabin crew (cabin crew) would be particularly affected. “Every day, 50 Cabin Crew Members would declare themselves “covids”, that is to say positive for Covid-19 or contact case ”, specifies a leader of a union of hostesses and stewards. On the seagoing side, the company would start to have “Problems in setting up crews for the holidays”, indicates a pilot trade unionist. Particularly because of “Contact cases” which are multiplying, he adds.
On examination, in Air France cockpits, “The Covid would affect the co-pilots much more than the captains”, he still says. On average, explains this pilot, “Younger than the captains, the co-pilots would have more social contact”, therefore more risk of contracting Covid-19.
At the head of the company, we keep our fingers crossed: “Our system holds up. “ Thanks, in particular, to the reinforcements and on-call staff planned to come to the aid of the ground staff or the reserve crews on alert to make up for the failing pilots. However, the resurgence of the epidemic could have consequences on Air France’s finances. The Omicron wave weighs on the stock market prices of airlines, and in particular on that of Air France-KLM, which remains below the 4 euros mark.
You have 48.54% of this article to read. The rest is for subscribers only.