Air France to shed hudreds more jobs

Air France has announced a new voluntary redundancies plan at a meeting with trade unions on Thursday. Ground staff and flight attendants at the French flag-carrier are targeted.

Reuters

"We don't have all the figures yet," union representative Ronald Noirot told the AFP news agency.

The company says it wants to shed 800 jobs - 500 ground staff  and 300 flight attendants.

More details may be revealed at a works council meeting on 5 February or when annual results are announced on 19 February.

The French-Dutch carrier sounded the alert in December, blaming the effects of the September French pilots' strike and a sluggish economy.

In May Air France boss Frédéric Gagey predicted more job cuts to come if the carrier recorded more losses.

In 2013 Air France and its French branches, Hop! and Transavia France, employed 65,000 people.

A voluntary departure plan is currently running until 30 March 2015.

Air France has already cut 8,000 jobs over the past three years.

In order to make savings Air France can either stop unprofitables lines, reduce investment, slow down its fleet renewal or cut jobs. 

Air France-KLM aimed to reduce its debt to 4.5 billion euros in 2015, compared to 6.5 billion in 2012.