Transavia is experiencing a shortage of aircraft and therefore has to cancel flights. The airline writes that on Friday on its website. Because Transavia does not expect to be able to resolve the shortage within two months, the company has chosen to cancel flights. In this way, travelers know where they stand as early as possible, and “stability in the execution of the operation” can return. Transavia has not disclosed how many flights and affected travelers are involved.
The airline is forced to cancel the flights because three of the five aircraft, with which the fleet would be expanded this summer, are not ready on time. In addition, problems with the supply of aircraft parts mean that scheduled maintenance of the fleet is delayed and that ‘minor technical defects’ cannot simply be repaired. Not all aircraft in the existing fleet are usable. The Volkskrant previously wrote that the shortage also has an administrative cause: aircraft that Transavia would lease from the Romanian low-cost carrier Blue Air lack certain safety certification and must therefore remain on the ground.
It is not the first time that Transavia has had to disappoint travelers: in mid-April, the airline announced that it would change or cancel 5 percent of its flights in April and May. At the time, about eight thousand passengers could not take an alternative flight. Nevertheless, Transavia was unable to prevent further disruptions: flights were repeatedly canceled at the last minute. On Wednesday it turned out that four flights from the Spanish cities of Valencia and Málaga could not take place.
Also read this interview with Marcel de Nooijer: Transavia CEO: ‘Ultra-cheap flying will not return’