Air France-KLM to Cut 5,000 Jobs: Report

Air France-KLM, the Franco-Dutch airline group, is looking to cut 5,000 jobs over three years, with about half through voluntary payoffs.

This is according to French daily Le Figaro today.

Air France-KLM management is counting on 800 people leaving the company through normal attrition, but will also open a voluntary buyout offer for all personnel, including pilots.

Another French news media, La Tribune.fr, said the buyout offer would affect 2,500 to 3,000 jobs.

However an Air France-KLM spokesman said negotiations with labour unions to find ways to reduce costs were still underway and no announcement on jobs was expected until the end of June.

"The economic situation at Air France is worrying, notably because of a significant lack of competitivity," the spokesman said.

On Thursday Air France-KLM chief executive Alexandre de Juniac is due to report progress made on a three-year turnaround strategy announced in January.

The cost-cutting plan, including wage freezes and investment reductions, aims at saving at least €2 billion and reducing debt. Air France-KLM aims to reduce its net debt by €2 billion to about €4.5 billion by the end of 2014.

Qantas to cut 500 jobs as part of restructuring

Australian flag carrier Qantas said it will axe 500 jobs in its heavy maintenance and engineering operations as part of a restructuring to cut costs.

The move follows an 83% slump in first-half net profit in the six months to December.

The airline also said it would delay the delivery of two A380 superjumbos by three years as part of spending reductions.

In the reorganisation, Qantas will cease heavy maintenance at Tullamarine airport in Melbourne by August, with work being consolidated in another facility near the eastern city of Brisbane.

The embattled carrier's chief executive Alan Joyce said there was not enough work for three separate facilities, with new technology meaning a 60% reduction in maintenance requirements over the next seven years.

"Like the manufacturing industry, aviation maintenance is a labour and capital-intensive sector. Our cost base in heavy maintenance is 30% higher than that of our competitors," he said. "We must close this gap to secure Qantas' future viability and success," he added.

"Qantas has invested heavily over the past 10 years in new aircraft that are more advanced, more efficient, attractive to our customers and require less maintenance, less often," Joyce said. "But we cannot take advantage of this new generation of aircraft if we continue to do heavy maintenance in the same way we did 10 years ago," he said.

Qantas has been struggling with high fuel costs which have eroded profits, as well as Joyce pulling all its planes out of the skies for 48 hours last October as part of a dispute with staff. That row, over plans to shift the focus of its ailing international arm to Asia, was ultimately ended by an order from the country's industrial relations umpire, but it cost Qantas $194m.

Joyce attempted to soften the jobs blow by implying there was plenty of work elsewhere for skilled engineers, particularly in Australia's booming mining industry. "Qantas maintenance engineers are highly skilled and have translatable skills that are sought after by other businesses," he said.

Despite the cuts, Qantas still employs around 30,000 people in Australia.