Heading for turbulence in the sky? The easyJet Civil Aviation Pilots’ Union (UNAC) is threatening to go on strike from Monday 16 September. The union, the second largest organisation in France of the British airline, intends to strike “put pressure” on management, seven days after the presentation of a reorganisation plan to the staff representatives of the Economic and Social Committee (CSE). The latter were informed, on Tuesday 10 September, of the closure of the permanent base in Toulouse at the end of the winter season, i.e. at the end of March 2025. Its 125 employees – including 80 flight crew members, 30 pilots and managers – will then be offered the opportunity to join one of easyJet’s six other bases in France: Paris – Charles-de-Gaulle, Orly, Nice, Bordeaux, Nantes or Lyon. This plan also provides for the transfer of the two Airbus A319s currently assigned to Toulouse to Nantes and Lyon.
“We wanted to react quickly, the day after the announcement, by filing a notice of an indefinite strike starting on Monday, the first day of negotiations., explains Gaël Leloup, head of cabin crew who joined easyJet twelve years ago, UNAC-easyJet union representative and elected member of the CSE. With this action we are also supporting the affected colleagues. Because this is the first time that the company has closed a base in France. And at the same time we have learned that the base in Rome, closed in 2015, will reopen this summer. The company moves planes like in a game of chess. »
Contacted, EasyJet said that “the strike notice (…) in reaction to easyJet’s proposal to close the Toulouse base was tabled before the first discussions of the consultation process. » And he specifies that “at As of today, there is no impact on our flights to Toulouse and France. »
Consternation reigns in Toulouse. “We are in shock. We find it hard to accept this sudden and violent decision, because we did not see anything coming.laments Sabine Moeson, elected member of the CSE by the National Union of Commercial Air Crews-Force Ouvrière (SNPNC-FO), who has been stationed in the Pink City for eleven years. At the beginning of September the flight schedule was put online and we were offered a new fixed work organization for implementation on the 1st.Ahem April 2025. Everything was going well, in our opinion. We even hoped to have a third aircraft at our base. »
“Incomprehensible announcement”
easyJet cites one main reason for its decision: the Toulouse base, opened in 2012, has not managed to regain its pre-Covid activity. In 2019, it had more than two million passengers on its routes, but the pandemic grounded its planes. To maintain the 1,800 French jobs, the company implemented three measures in 2021: long-term partial activity and a collective performance agreement, accompanied by a collective contract termination.
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