The Air France-KLM group on Friday announced that it is preparing to reduce its capacity ambitions during the forthcoming winter season as part of larger efforts to deal with the specter of rising fuel costs, according to official sources.
"Compared to previous years, we will limit the program of supply for the 2008/2009 winter season, but we are still projecting that there will be growth," a company spokesman told reporters during a press briefing.
During the press conference, the spokesman, who said that high fuel prices were hurting the airline, just like any other, indicated that the official "details will be given no later than September, this year."
For the winter season, which begins in late October and ends in late March, the group is almost expecting to maintain its current capacity, with only a rise of 1.1 percent, against the originally planned 4 percent, Francois Cabrera, a trade unionist was quoted as saying.
Cabrera, who is the serving secretary general of Air France's Central Enterprise Committee, a labor union affiliated to France's single largest union, CFDT, appeared to be confirming a report appearing in the French business daily La Tribune.
According to reliable sources, these figures were reported by Air France-KLM chief executive officer Jean-Cyril Spinetta during a meeting with labor unions officials Thursday.
In addition, Air France is looking for ways to save an additional 100 million euros (about 150 million U.S. dollars). "Each department has been asked to rein in its spending," said Cabrera, who noted that the company was reeling from the effects of high fuel costs.
The latest measures are in addition to those that were announced by the company's management in May with the aim of saving up to 150 million euros, according to reliable sources.
Furthermore, the Air France-KLM management has announced plans to impose "stricter controls with regard to staff hiring," which roughly means that a "freeze" has been placed on future hiring, according to Cabrera.
In addition, Air France is also studying an early exit of the entire fleet of the very large Boeing 747-400, which is seen as fuel inefficient. The move was originally planned for 2012.
These measures that are being implemented by the group are a matter of survival, an Air France director was quoted as saying. "Today, our main concern is to ensure that we will be still in business in the next two years," Christian Boireau, the group's commercial director for France said in a newspaper article Wednesday.
In late May, the Air France-KLM group had announced that the projected "net decline in its operating profit should reach around one billion euros" in 2008/2009, largely due to high oil prices and an economic crisis in the United States.
Source: Xinhua
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