Air France reveals job cut plans to staff: sources

[PARIS] Air France on Thursday met worker representatives to reveal a new job-cutting plan for the airline based on voluntary redundancies, two union sources told Reuters.

"We don't have any figures yet," one of the sources said.

Frederic Gagey, chairman and chief executive of Air France, the main operating subsidiary of Air France KLM, also presented a "salary moderation" plan, the sources said.

Air France KLM declined to comment.

Air France has already cut 8,000 jobs in the past three years under a group-wide restructuring plan by the Franco-Dutch group.

Competition from the low-cost sector and from state-backed airlines have taken their toll on the business in recent years, and a pilots' strike last year over the company's own plans to develop in the low-cost sector has added to its costs.

Air France is set to present additional cost-cutting measures to its unions at a special session of its works council on Feb 5, sources have told Reuters.

A report in Le Figaro newspaper earlier this month said the company planned about 5,000 job cuts.

REUTERS