The new Air France KLM boss Benjamin Smith wants to trim the Franco-Dutch aviation company by better cooperation of its two large airlines on lower costs. Fleets, schedules and alliances with other airlines are to be gradually harmonized, as Smith announced today. The purchase is bundled, customer data should be shared.
„These initial successes pave the way for our claim to regain a leading position in Europe and globally,“ said Smith in Paris. In 2018, in addition to higher fuel costs, strikes at Air France particularly affected the Group. The collective bargaining led to the resignation of CEO Jean-Marc Janaillac, whose successor, the Canadian Smith competed in September.
The airlines Air France with its low-cost division Hop, KLM and Transavia transported in 2018 for the first time more than 100 million passengers. Despite sales growth of 2.5 percent to € 26.5 billion, operating income dropped almost one-third to € 1.33 billion. The bottom line was an increase in profits.
