Air France: war between management and pilots

[airazurxtror]

Five Air France employees from the Cargo division were arrested early today as part of the investigation into the violent scènes of last week.

http://www.lefigaro.fr/actualite-france ... france.php

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Troubling information:

Dutch Minister of Finance Jeroen Dijsselbloem is prepared to take a share of Air France-KLM over a period of time as the company would need to implement the restructuring plans.

Dijsselbloem said Thursday that he was not excluding a "temporary holding", as Air France-KLM would come up with a good plan and there would be the need for a short-term financing. According to the Labour minister, that would be conceivable because of the large national and strategic importance of KLM. He has no time limit and no amount in mind.

Dijsselbloem said he and his French colleague Emmanuel Macron agree that Air France-KLM must adapt quickly to the market. The need to cut and reorganize in order to compete with airlines in the Middle East and with low cost carriers in Europe.

[Passenger]

Troubling information:

Dutch Minister of Finance Jeroen Dijsselbloem is prepared to take a share of Air France-KLM over a period of time as the company would need to implement the restructuring plans.

Dijsselbloem said Thursday that he was not excluding a "temporary holding", as Air France-KLM would come up with a good plan and there would be the need for a short-term financing. According to the Labour minister, that would be conceivable because of the large national and strategic importance of KLM. He has no time limit and no amount in mind.

Dijsselbloem said he and his French colleague Emmanuel Macron agree that Air France-KLM must adapt quickly to the market. The need to cut and reorganize in order to compete with airlines in the Middle East and with low cost carriers in Europe.

Very brief: the Dutch business council suggested yesterday to the government that the Dutch State intervenes with 400 mio €, which would lead to a stronger position for KLM within the AF/KL group.


http://www.telegraaf.nl/dft/bedrijven/a ... LM___.html

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Air France will make some money: Delta Air Lines is buying six slot pairs at London Heathrow from Joint-Venture partner Air France KLM. Delta had been previously leasing these six slot pairs.

[airazurxtror]

"The national strategic importance of KLM, also in relation to Schiphol airport, is obvious", Dutch Finance Minister Jeroen Dijsselbloem said on Tuesday, during his weekly interview on television station RTL-Z. "But in my analysis, it's not up to the Dutch government to make a move. It's up to the company to come up with a good strategic plan, to actually execute that this time around, and see it through, and become competitive again."
Mr. Dijsselbloem responded to a prominent Dutch business lobbyist who called on the government to buy around EUR400 million of shares Air France-KLM.
Becoming a shareholder of Air France-KLM would not help the company out, he argued.
"The problem, in my analysis, is not between France and the Netherlands, but between Air France-KLM and its major competitors from the Middle East and the low-cost-carriers in Europe," he said.
As long as competitiveness is not restored, it does not make sense for any investor to pour money into the company. "This means restructuring and cost cutting: the difficult process that is happening now. KLM has taken the lead there, Air France now needs to follow through," the minister said.

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/dutch- ... 2015-10-14

[sn26567]

Air France will make some money: Delta Air Lines is buying six slot pairs at London Heathrow from Joint-Venture partner Air France KLM. Delta had been previously leasing these six slot pairs.

Indeed: AF/KL earn US$276 million from selling six LHR slots to US carrier Delta. A way to replenish the cash drawer!

[airazurxtror]

Air France would like to establish employment contracts differentiated by productivity indicates its HRD, Xavier Broseta .
" We propose to create three employment contracts. In the first , the employee agrees to achieve the required productivity , salary remains the same today . In the second , he works more but earns more . In the third, finally, it may refuse to follow the increase in productivity, but then his remuneration diminishes , " he explains . "We made this proposal to the pilots , we can extend it to the hostesses and stewards . It is on the table , "said the official.

The HRD ensures that despite a return to the green , Air France remains fragile. " Those who think that Air France will survive because she earns 100 million euros a year are deluding themselves . Michael O'Leary has said he could buy Air France as he buys his cigarettes . It's unfortunate, but it's true . Today on the stock market, we are worth just under two billion euros , that is little. To continue living in this world of sharks, you have to be as strong as our competitors. Today, all companies of the world have costs lower than ours . If we are not strong enough , we'll get eaten , "he warns.

http://www.lefigaro.fr/societes/2015/10 ... tivite.php

[airazurxtror]

Air France has reportedly sacked four employees following violent protests at the airline's headquarters in October.

A fifth worker, accused of serious misconduct for assaulting managers, is subject to a separate procedure because he is a union representative.

The next Air France works council meeting is on November 19. Unions have called for industrial action on that date in protest against the disciplinary measures.

[HQ_BRU_Lover]

A fifth worker, accused of serious misconduct for assaulting managers, is subject to a separate procedure because he is a union representative.

The way it works at the unions: "I'm there for everybody, but before everybody comes myself".

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After a war between pilots and management, a new war is brewing between the pilots themselves.

The pilots of HOP! and Transavia are furious against their colleagues in the parent company Air France, affiliated to the SNPL union. They claim that the latter defend only their own interests.

While the French airline proposed on February 26, 2016 a voluntary departure plan, touching only the ground staff and cabin crew, the tone rises between the pilots of both subsidiaries of Air France and the majority union. A SNPL Brit Air leaflet (one of three components of HOP!) titled "pilot war will take place," and calls for solidarity: it says that the Air France group is "dying, structural reforms are imperative under threat of extinction "but it also has the impression that "since the last meeting between SNPL and the AF group, this diagnosis is no longer shared." The ambition, for example, of a single employment contract at the Group level "with local mirror contract and pay and local working conditions" opening to all pilots the opportunity to promote one day to long haul, is according to the Brit Air union section "abandoned" (the 900 pilots HOP! are limited by contract to planes of 110 seats or less). It therefore expressed its incomprehension to this strategic shift which leaves the medium-haul activity "unable to resist against the competition."

"If we revert on this agreement, we could create 150 jobs for pilots. It would be nice for the AF SNPL to also think of 3500 families to feed at HOP!" laments Jean-Jacques Elbaz, SNPL steward at Brit Air, in Le Parisien Friday. The daily newspaper quoted also one of 230 pilots of low cost Transavia who would like that "SNPL Air France and management finally reach an agreement". He considers that the union "seems more interested in negotiating a new hotel in Rio for Air France pilots or a new iPad, instead of getting out of the status quo that pulls down the group." Response of Emmanuel Mistrali, spokesman of SNPL Air France, to these charges in Le Parisien: "when there is no growth, everyone thinks only of himself ..."

As a reminder, Air France now plans to cut, through voluntary departures, 1,405 positions on the ground, including nearly 800 in the airports; initially, there was talk of 1,823 redundancies on the ground by May 2017. Among the cabin crew, the redundancy plan was reduced from 890 to approximately 200.