PARIS (Reuters) – Air France pilots voted to reform the airline’s loss-making domestic network, its main union said Wednesday, paving the way for a cheap transavia expansion.
In a referendum organized through the SNPL union, more than 90% of the pilots supported The plans of Air France-KLM (AIRF.PA) CEO Ben Smith to allow the budget department to take over some of Air France’s domestic routes and its HOP! short-distance operation.
After the vote, both sides signed formal amendments to the hard-working arrangements that had in the past prevented Transavia from national services, the air organization said.
The coronavirus crisis has helped Smith, who joined Air Canada in 2018, bring to light on once taboo internal reforms that lost two hundred million euros (181 million pounds) last year.
As a component of the restructuring plans, Smith aims to reduce French domestic traffic by 40% and move safe routes to Transavia, as well as take-off and landing slots at Paris’ Orly Airport.
“Immediate adoption of this agreement is a first step forward in the Air France-KLM group’s recovery strategy,” he said at a corporate wednesday.
Unions are also cooperating with plans announced last month to eliminate 7,580 jobs in Air France in reaction to the pandemic, and KLM is getting rid of thousands more.
The group, which recorded an operational loss of 1.55 billion euros in the quarter, earned 10.4 billion euros in loans issued or secured through the French and Dutch governments.
Reporting through Laurence Frost; Editing through Kirsten Donovan
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