PARIS: Air France-KLM CEO Jean-Marc Janaillac said on Friday he would resign after staff rejected a pay deal, plunging the airline into turmoil amid a wave of strikes at its French brand that has cost the company 300 million euros ($359 million). In the job for less than two years, Janaillac had been battling to cut costs at the French national carrier to keep up with competition from Gulf carriers and low-cost airlines. But he ran into the same union resistance as his predecessor, raising questions over the airline’s capacity to reform.
Janaillac said he would resign in the days ahead after more than half of the staff at Air France who cast a ballot voted against the offer of a 7 per cent increase over four years. “This is an enormous mess that will only put a smile on the faces of our competitors,” Janaillac told a news conference.
He said he hoped his departure would spark “a more acute collective awareness” before leaving without taking questions. Air France-KLM earlier on Friday reined in its 2018 profit and growth expectations, partly due to the effects of the strikes, and said it was not able to take advantage of a good market environment for European carriers. — Reuters
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