Air France will give a 5% salary increase to all its employees, along with a bonus of 1,000 euros, in response to inflation, the airline announced on Wednesday.
After consulting with the unions, Air France has decided “a general salary increase of 5%, paid in anticipation of the mandatory annual negotiations (NAO) 2023”, and that it will be gradually implemented in the coming months, it clarified.
The company will also pay next month “to all employees … an exceptional purchasing power bonus of 1,000 euros” for a full-time employee.
Minimum increase of 130 euros per month
Air France’s more than 38,000 employees are concerned: “ground staff, cabin crew and pilots.” Other negotiations take place in the company’s subsidiaries.
Air France also explained that “the first levels of remuneration will benefit (will) from November 2022 of a minimum increase of 130 euros gross per month (for a full-time employee) under the increases provided for all”.
These measures are taken to respond to the “exceptional situation” caused by “a historically high level of inflation,” Air France explained.
On Tuesday, the government revised up its inflation forecast for this year to 5.3% from 5%, saying it expected a high rise in prices until at least February 2023.
Air France’s actions come as the company “remains heavily constrained by its financial situation and suffers from the effects of inflation on its various costs, such as fuel,” he stressed.
8500 positions eliminated
Much affected like the entire airline sector by Covid-19, the Air France-KLM group generated profits for the first time since the start of the health crisis in the second quarter, thanks to a clear recovery in traffic.
The group has carried out a total cost reduction plan, which includes the elimination of 8,500 positions at Air France (17% of the workforce), of which 700 this year, and 5,500 at KLM.
Air France-KLM also completed a new capital increase of 2,256 million euros in mid-June, in which its two largest shareholders, the French and Dutch states, participated in proportion to their holdings (28.6% and 9.3 % respectively), while the shipowner CMA CGM acquired a 9% stake.
The group’s net debt has been reduced by 2.2 billion euros since the end of 2021 but remained very high at the end of June, at 6 billion.
Source: BFM TV
