Transavia will by June decide on its future fleet size and a programme for establishing additional European bases.
The Air France-KLM budget subsidiary intends to open at least one further base outside France and the Netherlands for the summer 2017 schedule, head of network planning Jeroen Erdman told Flightglobal at the Routes Europe conference in Krakow today.
Up to four new bases could be set up by 2018, he adds.
Transavia also wants to grow operations at its existing bases in Amsterdam, Paris Orly and Munich, and is evaluating the number of aircraft required for the entire expansion plan.
Within the current summer schedule, there will be 39 aircraft in operation at the carrier's Dutch arm, 27 at Transavia France and four in Munich, where a base was opened in March.
Erdman says he is "not sure" whether a future base will be managed by Transavia France. The Dutch division is in charge of the Munich base.
Opposition to Air France-KLM's plan to set up Transavia bases outside France and the Netherlands was the central reason for a two-week strike by French pilots in September 2014.
Erdman acknowledges that management aims to achieve the lowest possible costs with the establishment of new operations such as the Munich base.
Air France-KLM Group's outgoing chief executive Alexandre de Juniac said in February that the facility employed locally recruited crews and had lower costs than the Transavia operations in Amsterdam and Paris.
However, Erdman insists there is no internal competition between different operating units. "We are not moving capacity from Amsterdam to Munich to save costs."
Transavia aims to carry 14 million passengers in 2016, including one million at its Munich base.
Source: Cirium Dashboard
