CMA CGM Air Cargo Braces for Disruption as Pilot Strike Looms

CMA CGM Air Cargo is facing disruption following a strike notice by a pilots’ union that has issued a damning claim that management of the airline is “deaf” to the requirements of its pilots.

The National Union of Line Pilots (SNPL) has filed a strike notice from July 4 to 7 as it says pilots at the airline have substandard employment terms and conditions.

“This notice is of course likely to be renewed,” said the union.

Despite the strike notice, current Flightradar24 data shows CMA CGM’s Airbus A330 freighters are currently active

According to the union, Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport-based CMA CGM Air Cargo, currently currently employs just over 120 pilots.

SNPL said the pilots were recruited during Covid, when there was an oversupply of them due to airline cutbacks globally, and as a result the airline’s “management was able to set up employment and remuneration rules for its staff that were well below what was practiced in competing airlines”.

The SNPL said its requests for the airline’s management to reassess the salaries and working conditions of its pilots has not been met with a satisfactory response.

It added that the economic conditions had now changed and the first year of the airlines operations has been “largely profitable” but “the promises made by the management to improve the working conditions of the pilots have not been kept”.

The union noted that “the remuneration and working conditions of flight crew members remain much lower than those practiced in France and elsewhere in Europe. This refusal by management to improve working conditions is unacceptable for (CMA CGM Air Cargo) pilots”.

It added: “Despite the many warning messages from the SNPL, the management does not seem to grasp the urgency of the situation and remains deaf to the requests.”

CMA CGM Air Cargo received its air carrier certificate from the French Civil Aviation Authority in June last year.

The airline currently operates six freighters, four Airbus A330 freighters, and two Boeing 777Fs.

The airline also has a capacity partnership with Air France KLM Martinair Cargo (AFKLMP), that was launched in April.

Air Cargo News has contacted CMA CGM for comment on the strike notice.