The French company Chalair, a specialist in regional air links, was fined for “complicity in concealed work” due to the employment of Portuguese flight crew, we learned on Friday from the Limoges criminal court.
In its judgment, the court acquitted Chalair and its manager Alain Battisti of the charge of “illegal loan of labor” but sentenced the company to a fine of 150,000 euros, including 70,000 euros suspended, for “complicity in work concealed”.
The president of Chalair sentenced to a fine of 50,000 euros
Alain Battisti, who chaired the National Aviation Federation (Fnam) from 2013 to 2022, is personally sentenced to a fine of 50,000 euros, including 30,000 suspended, and a suspended ban, for two years, to exercise a commercial and industrial profession, or to manage, administer and direct a commercial or industrial company.
The company and its president had appeared in June for facts concerning the Limoges-Lyon line, where Portuguese flight personnel, belonging to the company Lease Fly, worked for Chalair. The civil parties and the prosecution have denounced this confusion between the companies, intended according to them to allow Chalair to have low-cost staff and to escape French social security contributions. Alain Battisti disputed the facts, ensuring to be in the legality. The company and the manager have 10 days to appeal.
Searches in Normandy and Limoges
Chalair’s premises in Normandy and Limoges were searched in 2017 as part of the investigation into this case.
Chalair Aviation, which has been operating in France since 1986, has a fleet of a dozen aircraft, with 19 to 70 seats, for an annual turnover of 9.2 million euros in 2021. In 2017, it employed 43 employees.