Air France yesterday signed a new pilot staff category pay agreement with the trade union SNPL – resolving a year-long impasse which has blighted the airline’s operations in the past 12 months.
The agreement remains open for signature until 22 February, 2019 and the carrier said it is already valid as the SNPL represents 75.9 per cent of the votes cast in favour of the pilot representative unions.
Air France chief executive officer (CEO), Benjamin Smith said: “I wish to thank the pilots for massively approving this agreement. This agreement forms the basis of a strong culture that acknowledges their leadership.
“After the Mandatory Annual Negotiation (NAO) agreements already signed with all our stakeholders, Air France-KLM is now in a position to begin implementing more ambitious plans and winning back its European leadership position.”
The SNPL has also signed the inter-category pay agreement of 19 October, 2018.
Air France said these agreements provides the flexibility required to support its “new ambition while setting out measures to improve flight safety, the commercial strategy, operational performance, and pilots’ daily lives and pay”.
The board of Air France-KLM has also reportedly agreed to reappoint the head of its KLM division, CEO Pieter Elbers.
Reports claim Smith has plans for closer integration of the two carriers and is pushing for more concerted decision-making between the two but had encountered resistance from the Dutch carrier’s workforce and Elbers.
