Cabin crew members of easyJet went on strike over the weekend, protesting repeated changes to their working hours and flight assignments.
British budget carrier easyJet has called off about 100 flights out of French airports on Aug. 15-16 because of a strike by cabin crew furious over repeated changes to their schedules.
Unions said about half of the company’s 900 French-based cabin crew would join the strike, which would affect about half of the flights out of two Paris airports, Nice, Bordeaux and Lyon.
The airline’s management has called the action “opportunistic” as it falls on a major national holiday weekend when airports are busy.
France is a key market for the low-cost airline, which was recently taken over in a $7.7 billion deal by U.S. private equity firm Apollo. Its passenger numbers in France are second only to Air France.
Most of the flights were cancelled on Aug. 14, with the company saying it wanted to help passengers find alternative routes.
William Bourdon of the SNPNC-FO union said that cabin crew wanted “stability” in their duties. He said some crew could see their hours and destinations changed 50-60 times a week.
The three unions involved in talks have warned of strikes between Aug. 7 and Sept. 2.
Ahead of the action, easyJet urged staff to call off the strike on such a busy weekend. It said it had made offers to change staff conditions and that talks were planned in September.
A previous strike in April had only a limited impact. Unions accused the company of offering bonuses of up to 700 euros ($810) to work on that day of action.
