Paris (AFP)

This agreement is "harmful for all air transport in Europe," says Zaïnil Nizaraly, secretary of the transport federation at FO.

"We have Qatar, which has three million inhabitants on one side and on the other, we have the European market which is immense," he explains, astonished at the imbalance of the agreement.

This agreement is "bad", "totally unbalanced," Alain Battisti, president of the National Federation of Aviation and its Trades (Fnam), told AFP on Thursday.

This main French air transport federation "asks the French government not to ratify it and not to apply it".

Entered into force without even waiting for the internal ratification of the 27 Member States, the agreement provides for an almost unlimited opening of the European skies for Qatar Airways, which will be able to serve any city, without any restriction on capacity or flight frequencies.

"Qatar Airways will be able to drain all European passengers to its Doha hub," warns Christophe Malloggi, FO delegate at Air France.

An Air France plane on the tarmac at Roissy-Charles de Gaulle airport, July 20, 2021 Eric PIERMONT AFP / Archives

Of course, the converse applies but "no European company has an interest in increasing its capacities in Qatar, we have nothing to do there", wonders Guillaume Schmid, representative of the SNPL pilot union. Air France.

The small emirate does not have a domestic air market that could be exploited by European companies, confirms Mr. Battisti.

Cargo concern

This agreement also grants Qatar Airways access to the freight market since the Qatari company will now be able to "carry out cargo flights directly between the European Union and third countries", wrote the SNPL in a press release.

However, since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, the air freight sector has taken on considerable importance for companies.

If it represented about 15% of their revenue before, it now weighs nearly 30% and "the outlook is solid", according to the International Air Transport Association (Iata).

The management of Air France-KLM also said "to regret the signing of this agreement which is likely to significantly strengthen the competitive situation on departure from France and the Netherlands, at a time when the Covid crisis is still impacting strongly its activity ".

A Qatar Airways cargo plane taking medical aid to India, then in the grip of a second wave of Covid-19, on May 3, 2021, on the tarmac at Hamad airport, near Doha KARIM JAAFAR AFP / Archives

A concern swept away by the EU for whom this agreement - the first of its kind with a Gulf country - will on the contrary make it possible to promote "free and undistorted competition" as well as more "social and environmental protection".

"Risky bet"

Qatar Airways, for example, will have to publish its accounts on a regular basis, according to international standards, in order to avoid the payment of unlimited aid from the Qatari emirate which would create a distortion of competition.

A social component is also planned to encourage Qatar Airways to improve its model, "far removed from European standards", according to Mr. Schmid.

But "the counterparts are not clear, the objectives are vague and the remedies too", he laments.

For the SNPL, this is a "risky bet" with a company "which has always been very opaque".

"This agreement was negotiated in 2019 at a very different time for European aviation," lamented the European Transport Workers' Federation (ETF).

Since the pandemic, "the market has undergone enormous changes" and "this is not the time to liberalize it further," says the trade union federation.

Air France-KLM Managing Director Benjamin Smit with Transport Minister Jean-Baptiste Djebbari, in the cockpit of the company's first A220, September 29, 2021 in the industrial area of ​​Roissy-Charles de Gaulle Eric airport PIERMONT AFP / Archives

On Thursday, the majority of Air France unions are calling for demonstrations in front of the transport ministry in Paris to push the French government to veto the agreement.

On September 22, Transport Minister Jean-Baptiste Djebbari hinted that France might not ratify it if it deemed it unbalanced.

But on Wednesday, his entourage was content to say that he would ensure that "its implementation is done in a balanced way and in compliance with the economic, social and environmental clauses which appear there".

© 2021 AFP