Summary: | Analysis often portrays the low-cost paradigm as a derivative of liberal capitalism but the present article represents it as a systematic attempt to redefine all production relations within the air travel sector. Low cost operators’ habitual cost-cutting exercises worsen employment and working conditions, sometimes going as far as to involve a refusal to engage in social dialogue (e.g. Ryanair until 2017). Budget carrier employee workloads have also intensified, as witnessed here through observations of the workspaces allocated to Transavia and easyJet cabin crew. Lastly, the article uses a French case study to describe systemic interactions with traditional carriers, whose employees - reflecting the generalized deregulation of the marketplace – are also facing the same productivity imperative
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