Air France Plans New Long-Haul Carrier as CEO Pushes Revival
- Janaillac unveils Boost unit for ‘ultra-competitive’ markets
- Gagey is replaced at Air France ahead of new labor talks
Air France passenger aircraft, operated by Air France-KLM Group, sit on the tarmac at Charles De Gaulle airport, in Roissy, France.
Photographer: Christophe Morin/BloombergAir France-KLM Group plans to create a new long-haul airline to fend off Persian Gulf rivals and will scale back short-haul ambitions as new Chief Executive Officer Jean-Marc Janaillac pushes to revive a company beset by internal strife and waning market share.
The group will establish a French arm parallel to Air France aimed at turning a profit in “ultra-competitive” long-haul markets, Janaillac said Thursday. The project, identified for now as Boost, “will not be low cost” and will draw pilots from Air France on a voluntary basis while flight attendants will be hired from outside the company. The unit will get 10 planes by 2020, with new routes comprising a third of its flights. The group’s European point-to-point flights will operate only under the Hop! and Transavia brands as of next year, with the Air France and KLM names reserved for network operations.