KLM announces reorganization: ‘Painful for every KLM colleague’

This article was last updated on October 3, 2024

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KLM announces reorganization: ‘Painful for every KLM colleague’

Airline KLM is introducing a series of measures to improve the company’s performance. The company will cut costs and “simplify” the organization. Certain investments are also postponed or canceled.

According to CEO Marjan Rintel, KLM is not doing well despite the growth in turnover: “Like many other airlines, KLM is suffering from high costs and shortages of employees and equipment. Our planes are full, but our capacity is still still not back to pre-corona levels.”

The interventions are necessary to remain a leading aviation company, says Rintel: “We want to maintain our 105-year pioneering role in aviation and continue to connect the Netherlands with the rest of the world. If we want to continue to do this in a healthy and strong way, we have to make clear choices.”

A billion-dollar investment in new, cleaner aircraft is in principle not at risk, the company says. But they cannot rule anything out.

Painful and necessary

Automation and mechanization should increase labor productivity and reduce absenteeism due to illness. Staff productivity must also be increased by adjusting work schedules. It is not yet clear whether any staff will be laid off.

Rintel does call the measures “painful for every colleague” and says that the company will try to retain as many jobs as possible. The works council and the unions, such as those of the cabin crew (VNC) and the pilots (VNV), have been informed.

“As always, we enter into discussions with KLM when they see challenges,” says VNV chairman Camiel Verhagen. “At the same time, agreements have recently been made about working longer hours and expanding training capacity. We will therefore critically examine whether new plans lead to the intended results. We cannot anticipate where those discussions will lead this time.”

Trade union director Hacer Karadeniz of FNV Grond hopes that KLM will continue to pay attention to all ground staff in the coming discussions.

More income

In addition to reducing costs, KLM also wants to increase revenues. The company wants to operate more intercontinental flights. According to a company spokesperson, this should not be at the expense of the network in Europe.

KLM, part of KLM-AirFrance, is also facing a shortage of pilots and is taking measures to improve flight occupancy. To save money, one of the investments the company may cancel is the planned construction of a new headquarters.

Income from catering is also taken into account. That should yield society 100 million euros per year. One of the options explored is that a free basic product remains and that passengers can order an additional range of meals, drinks and snacks.