Alina Vasiescu
"Air France-KLM", the largest European airline, may need to cut an additional 3,000 jobs through retirement and attrition, according to CEO Pierre-Henri Gourgeon. He said: "It may be of that order. For a company with 100,000 employees, that"s 2-3%. It"s what happened last year. That"s our objective and it"s based on natural departures".
In April 2009, the French-Dutch holding announced it intends to cut 2,500 to 3,000 jobs this year, following last year"s 2,000 layoffs, caused by a drop in passenger traffic. Gourgeon did not confirm whether "Air France-KLM" is considering temporary layoffs.
In 2008, the company posted a loss of EUR 814 million, the first since its inception in 2003, after posting a profit of EUR 756 million in 2007. The company"s turnover dropped slightly, to USD 23.97 billion, but its operating result shows an EUR 129 million loss, compared to EUR 1.41 billion in profit in 2007.