Opposing open skies to protect Tunisair and safeguard its monopoly was the unstated principle of state policy prior to 2011. At that time, Tunisair “held 63% of all seats available on the market” (cf La Révolution inachevée, World Bank, page 93).
Since then, Tunisair’s fleet has melted like snow in the sun, along with its monopoly, contributing to the rise of European low-cost airlines through Bilateral Agreements. Among these low-cost airlines, the Air France subsidiary Transavia has taken the lion’s share of flights between Tunisia and France. With unlimited support from its parent company, itself regularly rescued and financially aided by the French state, Transavia is crushing its Tunisian competitors and thereby the sacrosanct “competitive neutrality of the state”, the absence of which the World Bank denounced in Tunisia in the aforementioned report.
The absence of a real opening up of the skies has thus contributed to the deterioration of Tunisair’s competitive situation and the creation of a virtual monopoly for Transavia on the French market. This situation is likely to worsen with the new resources granted by Air France to its subsidiary.
By Lotfi Mansour, tourism consultant (former director of specialized magazines; initiator and Honorary President of the Tunisia Convention Bureau).
Production: MCM.