Budget airline Transavia is facing a fine for using dozens of interns as fully-fledged cabin staff and undercutting the minimum wage.

Labour inspectors started an investigation into the practice following “several reports of abuse” and found that, for several weeks in 2022, students from five MBO trade schools had worked as stewards and stewardesses, but not in a supervised training situation.

The students worked the same hours and were given the same tasks and responsibilities as regular staff but were only paid an internship fee, the labour inspectorate found.

“During an internship training should be the main concern but the internship was focused on working not learning,” the inspectorate said. By only paying them a fee for a full day’s work, the airline also broke the minimum wage rules.

Transavia said internships in 2022 had “not gone according to plan”. The airline promised to pay the students’ back wages and talk to MBO colleges about how the internships should be carried out.

It is not yet clear how much the fine will be.