For those accustomed to the sky, the landing was not smooth.
"
Overnight, you no longer have a job, you are 29 years old and your sector is completely messed up
" says this young steward, ex-employee of the company Norwegian Airlines.
Like many others, Grégory found himself grounded in March 2020 when flights around the world stopped due to the health crisis.
The year 2020 sadly marked air transport.
According to the International Air Transport Association (IATA), losses in the sector amounted to nearly $ 120 billion over the year and passenger traffic fell by 66%.
Read also: Air: will European companies become prey?
Norwegian Airlines notably ceased its long-haul flights and closed its Roissy Charles De Gaulle base in January 2021, leading to the dismissal of its 286 French staff.
Like her, Air France, XL Airways or Aigle Azur have also separated hundreds of flight crew members, despite the implementation of short-time working and state aid.
Driven by the loss of their job or the worry of not flying back, some have retrained, others have seized their chance to reconnect with their old dreams.
"
Emergency conversions
"
“
If I hadn't lost my CDI, I would have stayed in the air.
Changing jobs was not in Gregory's plans.
Steward for three years, the young man wanted to bounce back as quickly as possible.
With the firm desire to stay in transport, he began a professional seven-month contract to become a chef de bord at the SNCF.
For him: "
the French will take the train more and more, that's a certainty
".
He sees the moment to "
seize a good opportunity
", Grégory leaves the service in the air to discover a different relationship with travelers
“I don't know if I would have continued in the air all my life, but I didn't choose to stop.
"
S. ex-stewardess of the company Norwegian Airlines
This change of life imposed was also brutal for Sandra (*) also hostess of the company Norwegian. “
I don't know if I would have continued in the air all my life, but I didn't choose to stop. They pulled the rug out from under me,
”she confides. “
I couldn't say goodbye to my job.
“Not without emotion, the young woman recalls the date of her last flight: March 7, 2020, before going on a long period of partial unemployment until the brutal end of the Norwegian adventure (as for 285 other of her colleagues French). Impossible for the 30-something to stay at home. She turned to “
emergency
”
retraining
and began training as a sales representative in the pharmaceutical sector at the start of the school year.“
No choice.
Many in her case have fallen into depression, she says.
From the chosen or forced flight, the waves of departure in the airlines do not only affect the cabin crew (cabin crew).
Yann Crosson, 54-year-old experienced pilot and president of the Norwegian section of the SNPL union has also left the cockpit.
After private planes, freighters and airliners, this Breton left the radar to open a literary café and wine bar in the Médoc, in Talais.
“
I was looking to develop something,
” he says.
Finally, he too seized the opportunity to change his life.
“
Changing projects
, that's all
there is to experienced pilots like me
”. As Yann Crosson testifies, the first to be licensed are “
those who arrived last and experienced pilots who cost too much
”. A very difficult situation financially for young graduates with a student loan to repay, but also for independent pilots for example, who find themselves living on their personal funds. The question is: "
when?
", If the trade unionist does not doubt a dynamic recovery, he alerted more to the evolution of the sector to adapt to new modes of consumption and the precariousness of the profession.
Yann Crosson, ex-pilot, opened his literary café and wine bar, Épicerie Les Mattes in Talais (33).
Yann Crosson
"
I do not regret"
"
Many colleagues have suffered financially and morally
" says this young pilot in forced arrest.
Once past the turbulent zone of the first months after his last flight, Thomas accepted the deal.
"
We have been taken away from our work, but it's the situation that demands
". Like his colleagues, his reservations are quickly melting. He sells trees in a supermarket in December to supplement his partial unemployment and find professional contact. He is seething with impatience to get back into the air. This becomes almost possible for this video game enthusiast and more especially the Flight Simulator game (which allows you to find the atmosphere of the cockpit through the screen). A few months ago, the pilot awaited the imminent release of the new version when he saw a job offer of "
game tester
" for Flight Simulator. The studio that designs it is in Bordeaux. This is not a limit for Thomas who wants to quickly take control. The pilot was hired on the spot and left Paris for Bordeaux with the intimate conviction thathe will return to his profession later. "
I do not regret
”.
Thomas, 32 years old and professional pilot, became “QA Tester” of the Flight Simulator video game.
Asobo Studio
If the Covid-19 has forced a change of life reluctantly, for others, it has proven to be a driving force.
Flavien, a 32-year-old ex-steward, had already thought of becoming a gendarme, an old dream.
“
The Covid helped me in my choice to give me the possibility of changing lanes,
” he says.
After having passed the gendarmerie competition last September, Flavien is preparing to leave the service for security definitively.
In the line of sight of the ex-steward: the school of non-commissioned officers at the start of the school year and perhaps a future in the air transport gendarmerie.
Even if for him, one thing is certain, life in the air "
is
over
".
(*) The first name has been changed
