Pilots Strike Costs Air France N6m

Air France –KLM has put
the total cost of last months two-week pilots strike at £500 million ($632million) enough to wipe more than a fifth off the groups estimated fully-year core profit.
Reuters reported that Air France in July revised down its target for 2014 earnings from £2.5 billion to between £2.2 billion and £2.3 billion.
It said the total passengers traffic fell 15.9 per cent in September compared with the year before, adding that bookings for the fourth quarter were down by between 1 and 2 per cent points.
The £500million cost estimate included a direct impact of between £320 million and £350 million reflecting lower receipts and the purchase of tickets for customers on rival airlines , with costs partly offset by savings on fuel and other costs. The remainder was down to the delay in bookings.
The chief financial officer Pierre-Francois Riolacci told reporters that the airline had sold some 28 per cent of capacity for the fourth quarter, compared with 30 per cent normally at this stage of the year.
“The group estimates that part of the delay could be progressively reduced over the coming weeks”, the carrier said in a statement, adding it was difficult to quantify  this adjustment exactly given the exceptional nature of the event”.
Pilots ended the airline’s longest strike since 1998 in late September after managers agreed to drop plans to set up a new European arm for low-cost unit Transavia Air France Plans to press ahead with the expansion of Transavia France.
Air France KLM said that for the winter season, its capacity would grow by 0.7 per cent, including 0.1 per cent for the passenger business at Air France and KLM as well as regional carrier Hop and 13.3 per cent for Transavia.
In a sign of tensions in the aftermath of the dispute, Air France said it had been forced to cancel a meeting with unions on Tuesday on its plans for Transavia due to the absence of unions representing a minority of staff.
“This meeting will be replaced by informal consultations with each representative union in order to deliver information on the development of Transavia” it said in a statement.
Air France pilots are seeking the right for future pilots to be recruited on the same conditions as those currently working for the main airline, a point on which management says it will not give way.

Governor Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers, with other top government functionaries awaiting the arrival of former Head of State and APC Presidential aspirant, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari at the the Port Harcourt International Airport, Omagwa last Tuesday. Photo: NAN