EasyJet wants to entrust its aircraft in Morocco to self-employed pilots
To complete the crews at its new Marrakech base, easyJet would reportedly offer pilots the opportunity to work as self-employed contractors. The airline nevertheless assures that those currently operating from Morocco remain seconded from its other bases.
Opened in April, easyJet’s Moroccan base has three aircraft and serves around thirty European routes. It is expected to represent approximately 100 jobs, including around sixty pilot positions.
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According to the National Airline Pilots’ Union (SNPL), pilots recruited to settle permanently in Marrakech would not be offered standard salaried employment contracts. They would work through Storm Aviation, a company established in Ireland, which would then make them available to easyJet.
The union states in La Tribune that this arrangement would be unprecedented within the airline. It believes that it would make pilots bear part of the social and financial risks, while easyJet would retain control over their operational activities.
Current pilots come from other bases
EasyJet neither confirms nor denies the nature of the contracts offered for recruitment in Marrakech. It does, however, specify that no pilot currently working at the Moroccan base was hired through a service provider.
The crews currently operating from Marrakech are seconded from other easyJet bases. The arrangement denounced by the SNPL would therefore concern future pilots expected to work permanently in Morocco, not the crews already operating the flights.
The airline also defends the use of a recruitment agency, presented as a common model in Morocco and used by other carriers.
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The SNPL, for its part, fears that self-employed status could weaken pilots’ social protection and expose them more to the financial consequences of a work stoppage. It believes that this economic pressure could also raise safety concerns, although at this stage it has not reported any incident occurring in Marrakech.
