Paris (AFP)

The strike by pilots of Hop !, a regional subsidiary of Air France, should cause little disruption on Monday, Air France management said on Sunday.

"Air France plans to operate all of its flights to and from Paris-Charles-de-Gaulle and Paris-Orly and almost all of its flights from French regions," a spokesman told AFP. word of the company.

Hop! provides part of Air France's domestic flights and serves flights between French regions and Europe.

The disruptions will not concern either "long-haul flights" or "short and medium-haul flights operated by an Air France Airbus plane", specifies Air France on its website. The company offers travelers who wish to postpone their flight free of charge.

The SNPL, first union of pilots of Hop !, calls for a strike to demand better wages and working conditions, closer to those of the pilots of Air France, and demand an easier integration within the company Air France . Management proposed a 3% wage increase, deemed insufficient by the union.

He had filed in late December a strike notice of 144 hours spread over twelve days, which had been postponed the time to discuss with the management of Hop !.

The notice runs from Monday, from 6:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., and the strike must continue on other days, the next one being Thursday, Emelyne Fronteau, president of the SNPL Hop!

"More than half of the drivers are engaged on Monday," she said.

Faced with the reduction of the fleet and the suppression of the Hop! Brand, the pilots of the company are worried about their careers and their jobs. The union wants to see "perpetuated" from 2020 the transfer each year of 70 pilots to Air France and offers transitional solutions, when management seeks to limit these departures in order to preserve its activity, according to Ms. Fronteau.

Founded in 2013, Hop! employs around 2,500 people including 750 pilots. The company is the result of the merger of three former regional subsidiaries of Air France (Brit Air, Regional and Airlinair). The last strike of its pilots dates back to the summer of 2017.

© 2020 AFP