If it hadn't been for the rebellion of local Breton elected officials, the Paris Orly - Brest air link would already have been forgotten.
Faced with such an outcry, Transavia had indeed granted a six-month reprieve to this line at the beginning of September, although its eventual closure seems inevitable.
It must be recognized that the transfer of this Air France link is a failure.
The company had in fact taken the gamble of giving its
low cost
a whole set of “radial” lines departing from Orly, and none has met with the expected success to date.
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Read alsoTransfer of passengers between Air France and Transavia: are the customers the big losers?
Already, the low profitability of the connections from Orly to Brest, Pau or Perpignan, or the strong seasonality of the lines to Biarritz or Toulon had motivated this transfer in 2020. But their clientele both "business" and "leisure" represented a novelty for Transavia, whose offer is very “sun” oriented.
This could explain his reluctance to repeat these lines.
Indeed, the difficulties encountered were not the least.
First, these lines mobilize planes that they could assign to more efficient and profitable routes.
Transavia's fleet is in fact essentially made up of Boeing 737s, a high-capacity aircraft with around 150 seats, and with little space for cabin baggage.
Air France on the other hand,
Tariff readjustment
Also, Transavia doesn't have the right "product" for frequent flyers.
Its tickets can only be modified with a fare readjustment.
And they are non-refundable.
Your meeting is cancelled?
The ticket is lost, regardless of the fare paid.
As for changing the reservation two hours before the flight, it is simply impossible.
To these pitfalls is added the fact that Transavia and Air France are two very distinct entities, although they belong to the same group.
And this has an impact on 40% of passengers as it is complicated to combine a one-way ticket with Air France from Charles-de-Gaulle, and a return ticket to Orly with Transavia, for example if the schedule suits you better.
And it's a shame: to Montpellier for example, by combining the four or so Charles-de-Gaulle flights operated by Air France and the four to Orly by Transavia, we obtain an offer similar to that of the TGV.
So highly competitive.
Problem: for IT reasons, the combination of the two companies is not possible.
Why doesn't Air France do with its
low cost
what it does with Air Europa, KLM or Delta?
Namely, reserving seats and selling them as an "Air France operated by..." ticket, which would make it possible to have an Air France ticket on the outward and return journey with all the advantages of the national company.
Only the service on board would be different, which passengers are used to with what are called “share codes”.
Read alsoIs the low cost Transavia really cheaper than Air France?
The precedent of Montpellier
In fact, all the advantages offered by Air France to its Gold and Platinum passengers are not valid on Transavia (lounge, skypriority, seat, baggage).
In all, nearly half of passengers have, on paper, no interest in switching from Air France to Transavia and this is no doubt why we are witnessing, when passengers have the choice, an increase of customers to Charles-de-Gaulle.
An example ?
The 7% of subscribers found on an Air France plane who are entitled to take the flight they want on the day of their reservation lose this privilege with Transavia.
In another scenario, Transavia does not provide connections, which affects between 5 to 10% of passengers.
The company run by Nathalie Stubler seems to be aware of all this since it has drastically reduced the offer of each line it has taken over.
Between Paris and Brest, Air France offered 33 weekly frequencies before the Covid, i.e. 7,400 seats per week.
This winter, Transavia will offer four frequencies per week, i.e. 1,512 seats.
“Experiments have been made to boost traffic.
For example in September and November 2021: an offer of capacity greater than demand has been implemented, with 9 to 10 flights per week.
This program made it possible to make a round trip day on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays.
This program was maintained on a stable basis over these two months to observe booking trends, with a communication campaign from Brest airport to support the line.
The experiment was inconclusive: over this period the occupancy rate was 35%”
explains the spokesperson for the company.
The line to Perpignan is doing a little better with about 14 frequencies per week.
Finally, how not to be surprised to see Montpellier appear among the destinations sold to Transavia.
With Air France, it had been elevated to the rank of "Navette" with often ten daily connections to Orly and 500,000 passengers transported each year.
His transfer once again caused a drop in supply to around 200,000 seats per year.
With, on some days, this anomaly of not finding any flight to Orly after 4 p.m., when we know that the end of the day slots are the most popular with frequent travelers.
Unless they now take the TGV or... Air France to Charles-de-Gaulle.
