Allegedly, TUI has been trying to 'export' pilot jobs from Europe to countries on the fringe of the EU. The two B737s from the Corsair fleet are being moved to a start-up low cost airline in Morocco called 'JET-4-U' in which TUI has a 40% stake.
Employees are being made redundant in Paris and the fleet size reduced. It appears that any pilots employed in Morocco will be offered a much lower set of terms and conditions. It is believed that TUI has plans to start up similar operations in Tunisia and Egypt and possibly Turkey.
Under recent EU agreements, airlines in the EU 'fringe' countries are being given traffic rights to and through the EU so watch out for these operators at an airport near you! Are other existing TUI airlines in for the same 'treatment' as Corsair?
As a consequence, Corsair staff are starting a 3 day strike starting at 0500Z tomorrow (27th Jan) and continuing until 2259Z on Sunday evening.