Air France airline plane – Mickaël Bosredon / 20 Minutes
The offer of only two weekly flights proposed by Air France for the resumption of traffic between Pau and Paris from June 15 is “unacceptable”, the mayor of Pau François Bayrou ruled Friday at a press conference.
“It is extremely serious” and “unacceptable,” said the mayor of Pau, who said he was “determined to lead a revolt”. The elected representative recalled that if the airline had been asked to remove its internal connections when there is an alternative train in less than 2:30, Pau is located 4:30 by train from Paris.
“No question that Air France consolidates its accounts on our back”
The company plans to resume its connection between Charles-de-Gaulle Airport (CDG) and Pau-Pyrénées Airport with two weekly flights until the end of June, compared to nine flights a day before the coronavirus crisis. Six of these flights, however, were operated from Orly, an airport closed since April 1, the other three from CDG.
François Bayrou said he would seize the executive to remind Air France of the State’s commitments to the company and the “seven billion euros of public money” promised as part of an aid plan . “There is no question of Air France consolidating its accounts on our back,” insisted the mayor and boss of moDem.
Contacts made with easyJet
François Bayrou, wishing to see his city served by “a reasonable number of planes every day”, also wants to contact other companies “to find immediately alternative solutions”.
According to the daily The Republic of the Pyrenees, contacts had already been established before the health crisis between the low-cost company easyJet and Pau-Pyrénées airport, which welcomed around 600,000 passengers in 2019.
Wing reduction on the home network
In a press release, Air France assures Friday that, as part of the gradual resumption of traffic to several French cities, Pau would be “served again from June 15 with a reduced number of frequencies compared to the usual program, as for all Air France destinations ”.
At the end of May, Air France-KLM managing director Benjamin Smith announced at the general shareholders’ meeting that Air France would accelerate the reduction of airfoil on its domestic network.
