(Paris) Transavia will charge for the right to take baggage with you on the plane from April, the Air France-KLM group detailed on Thursday, stressing that it was thus adopting a policy already in force in other low-cost companies.
Outlined in December with financial analysts, this measure will concern cabin suitcases, whereas until now Transavia only paid for any suitcases in the hold in addition to the base fare of the ticket.
This will give the right, from April 3, to take only small-sized “hand luggage” (40 x 30 x 20 cm), which can fit under the seat, Transavia told AFP on Thursday. .
The cabin baggage option will be charged from 15 euros ($22); “the amount will vary depending on the destination chosen and the date of reservation”, according to the same source.
This baggage must not exceed 55 x 35 x 25 cm and 10 kg. Otherwise, you will have to pay the price of checked baggage.
Customers who have chosen the “MAX” fare, more flexible, but also more expensive, “will continue to be able to travel with hand luggage (40 x 30 x 20 cm), large cabin baggage (55 x 35 x 25 cm) and to benefit from priority boarding”, according to Transavia.
Benjamin Smith, general manager of Air France-KLM, defended on Thursday a measure which is “already in place among all of Transavia’s competitors”.
During a press conference devoted to the airline group’s annual results in Paris, Mr. Smith refused to say more about the additional turnover that this measure could generate. But Air France-KLM was pleased to have, between 2019 and 2023, increased its ancillary revenues, derived from options (baggage, choice of seats, upgrades, meals, etc.), by 53% per passenger.
Spearheading the development of Air France-KLM, Transavia is targeting 81 aircraft based in France by the end of 2024. It has expanded its network in recent years, from Dubai to Cape Verde via Luxor (Egypt) and Rovaniemi (Finland), but also in France, more than 200 connections in total.
The company, which has just started the renewal of its Boeing 737s with Airbus A320neo, transported 21.4 million travelers in 2023 (+16.9% over one year).
On the other hand, it remained in the red (97 million euros operating loss), weighed down by problems with aircraft availability and the consequences on attendance of the September earthquake in Morocco, then the war between Israel and Hamas.