Air transport: deconfinement announcements make domestic flights take off

The information would undoubtedly have been perceived as commonplace in 2019. But, in these times of pandemic and its very serious consequences on the aviation sector, it is an exception.

The Spanish company Volotea, already present in France in Nantes, Bordeaux, Strasbourg and Marseille, announces an expansion in Ile-de-France.

Indeed, it will soon be arriving on the tarmac at Roissy airport where it will launch two new lines.

One from July to Figari in Corsica and the second in September to Genoa in Italy, with two flights per week each.

What about the forecast for 2021?

"We do not know yet because it will necessarily depend on the evolution of the pandemic", underlines Céline Lacroix, International Development Manager of Volotea.

However, some indicators appear encouraging, at least on the French flight market.

Since the Prime Minister's announcements regarding deconfinement and the lifting of restrictions, reservations have increased.

At Volotea, they have gone “from night to day” thanks in particular to the May bridges;

the company thus hopes to "make up for the losses in April".

More flights with Air France

Same effect at Air France.

“Since the announcements, we have seen a significant increase and we have added flights,” says the company.

Double between April and May on the domestic market.

Inter-metropolitan flights to Nice, Marseille, Biarritz or even Corsica, mainly from Roissy and Orly, especially for the May bridges ”, we add.

Trips to the French overseas departments and territories, the compelling reason for which has not yet been resolved, are not currently affected by this awakening.

Despite everything, the figures remain far from those pre-Covid.

“We only reach 35% of the flight schedule planned for the same period in 2019,” notes Air France, which represents 50% of passenger traffic at Roissy airport.

Twice as many bookings with Transavia

Upward trend also at Transavia with "a doubling of reservations" from the weekend following the intervention of Jean Castex.

“And the trend has been very positive ever since, we rejoice.

Currently, we sell around 20,000 tickets per day, a level of sales that we have not seen since July 2020 ”.

Whether for the May bridges or the summer holidays, the most popular destinations are Greece, Spain, France and Portugal.

There too, there will be additional flights to meet demand: sixty for the Ascension Bridge for example.

"Our total capacity will be doubled between this week and the weekend of May 13," says the company.

With prospects which are opening a little for the months to come.

“Even though the health crisis has taught us to remain cautious, the first signs are encouraging,” says Transavia.

Our ambition is to offer by July a capacity at the same level as in summer 2019. The French are finally able to plan for their summer vacation, which makes us confident in the possibility of achieving this objective. ambitious ".

Additional domestic lines

As for Volotea, it is a question of pursuing a strategy already initiated last year.

“With the virus, we grounded our planes from mid-March to mid-June.

We quickly thought about what would work in the recovery: the domestic network - internal flights in France - because of the restrictions still weighing on the international.

This is why we launched 15 additional domestic lines last summer.

This is what we continue to do at Roissy where we hope to develop further ”, explains the development manager.

Especially since the strategy has paid off with a “very correct” summer period for the company.

“In total on all of our lines, we managed to recover 83% of our 2019 program in the third quarter of 2020 and around 60% over the year,” she explains.

Figures that allow the small company "to be very positive" and "believe in the future" despite the context. To the point of accelerating the change of its aircraft fleet, to become 100% Airbus. It will have between "35 and 39 planes in total" by the end of the year.