Pierre-Henri Gourgeon has resigned as CEO of both the Air France-KLM group and Air France itself, with Alexandre de Juniac taking over as CEO of Air France and Jean-Cyril Spinetta appointed as chairman and CEO of the Air France-KLM group.
Speculation had been rife that Gourgeon would step down, with rumours of disagreements among senior management and Air France-KLM’s shares falling by over 50 per cent in the last six months.
In a statement the board of directors said that “top priority must be given to the recovery and improvement of the performance of Air France and of KLM”, with the setting up of a fully-fledged Air France-KLM holding company now delayed from next year until 2013.
Air France recently launched a new regional strategy with 13 new routes departing from Marseille, aimed at reducing operational costs by around 15 per cent. The carrier intends to expand this regional strategy to include new routes from Nice, Toulouse and Bordeaux next year.
For more information visit airfrance.co.uk.
Report by Mark Caswell
