Air France-KLM Group seems to be suffering still, with further deeper cuts to be made, with a further 2,800 jobs on the line as the airline tries to cut costs.
Air France will try and make these cuts via voluntary redundancy.
Already, the airline has is to cut 5,100 staff from its global 69,000 workforce, but the group is missing the savings required.
For those remaining in 2014, “Wage Moderation” seems to be the phrase to look out for.
Unions are being involved with discussions.
In terms of fleet, older aircraft will be exiting the Air France fleet – namely the Boeing 747-400’s which operate both cargo and passenger fleets – will be removed from service during 2015.
Air France’s network will also be subject to changes, with the groups Transavia France unit getting five aircraft to operate routes for the summer 2014 timetable, whilst the point-to-point network will be down-scaled too.
In Europe, older airlines are struggling to deal with the threat EasyJet and Ryanair have posed them in their short haul networks due to the higher costs these airlines are incurring – and Air France is showing this.
And they’re not alone. Lufthansa is fighting back using Germanwings, Iberia is trying things out with Iberia Express and Vueling, whilst British Airways is trying cheaper hand-baggage only fares to keep the customers on the plane.
It’s not a great time to be an airline chief executive… or a shareholder for that matter…
What is “voluntary redundnacy”?
Massive layoffs