HOP! (France) (A5, Paris CDG) subsidiaries HOP!-Airlinair (Paris Orly), HOP!-Brit Air (Morlaix), and HOP!-Régional (Clermont-Ferrand) could be consolidated into one all-encompassing operation French airline trade union, CFDT, has revealed. The move is part of parent Air France's plan to further cut mounting costs while repositioning the operation to regain market-share in the domestic and regional sectors lost to budget operators as well as high-speed rail services.
However, the CFDT says the push to further streamline operations will see yet another round of redundancies with departments such as Accounting and Human Resources likely to be the worst affected.
Earlier this month, Air France unveiled HOP!'s revamped business model wherein it will assume all of Air France's Paris Orly domestic and regional services alongside operations at several French bases.
Air France united Airlinair (Paris Orly), Brit Air (Morlaix), and Régional (Nantes) under the HOP! brand name in 2013 with all three carriers agreeing to become a simplified joint stock company governed by HOP!. Each of their boards was in turn replaced by an executive council chaired by HOP! CEO, Lionel Guerin. But, while their corporate structures have been consolidated, all three carriers have continued to operate under three distinct Air Operators Certificates (AOC).
Overall, the HOP! fleet consists of a total of 99 aircraft including thirteen ATR42-500s, nine ATR72-500s, one ATR72-600, five CRJ100s, thirteen CRJ700s, fourteen CRJ1000s, sixteen E170s, ten E190s, one E135, and seventeen E145s.
