Tunisair (TU, Tunis) Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Sarra Rejeb says Tunisair Express (UG, Tunis) will not be repositioned as the Group's Low Cost Carrier (LCC) despite initial plans to do so.
Rejeb told the Tunis Afrique Presse news agency on the sidelines of the 123rd General Assembly of the Francophone Air Transport Association (ATAF) last week that the Express subsidiary lacked the corporate culture, as well as the cost advantages, associated with budget airlines.
"The initial idea was to turn it [Tunisair Express] into a low cost operator, but this idea was quickly abandoned because the low cost is a state of mind. A company is born low cost, it cannot become so," she said.
Rejeb added that with a small fleet of three ATR72s and one CRJ900, Tunisair Express was neither competitive nor sustainable in its current form. Therefore, a group has been tasked with devising a strategy wherein it will be absorbed into its parent as soon as possible, she said.
"A working group is currently focused on the reintegration of this subsidiary. I hope the physical and operational reintegration can take place very soon, pending the finalization of the legal file with the Commission for Restructuring Public Enterprises (CAREP) based at the Prime Ministry," she said.
Tunisair is undergoing restructuring ahead of the proposed implementation of an Open Skies agreement with Europe which could come as early as summer of next year. Though beneficial to Tunisia's tourism market, the influx of European budget carriers such as Ryanair (FR, Dublin International) and easyJet (London Luton) is expected to severely test Tunisair's resilience and mettle.
