Everybody’s fault but our own by Air France unions……
 

Air France's trade unions have appealed to French Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault for government support as their airline goes through a "crisis of exceptional gravity... which is presenting the carrier with serious, economic and financial problems".
In a letter sent to the PM last June and made public yesterday, union representatives on the Air France board mainly blame the Gulf carriers and the growing number of low-cost carriers (LCCs) for their employer's financial predicament.
According to La Tribune, they claim the three main Gulf airlines — namely Emirates, Etihad and Qatar Airways — have taken away market share on routes to Asia, Africa and the Middle East.
The letter reads: "Whenever additional traffic rights are granted to those companies it results in a loss of activity and related employment in Europe."
The unions of Air France and the Air France-KLM Group want the French government to "freeze any new allocation of traffic rights until a fairer competition is finally established".
By "fairer competition" they cite the fact that Gulf carriers benefit from more benign operating conditions in the Gulf compared to Europe (see our New World Order special report, December 2010).
However, they note that as the government is seeking to sell its Dassault Rafale high-performance fighter jet to Qatar and the UAE then its request may fall on deaf ears. It is important to note here that trade deals can be won or lost over issues as simple as airline traffic rights.
Competition from LCCs is also blamed for Air France's worsening financial plight.
These airlines "have headquarters in the most accommodating European countries in terms of tax and social security contributions. The most effective LCCs are English or Irish. None of them is French. Therefore it deprives our country of these jobs."
Air France faces higher wage costs than its European rivals which places it at a competitive disadvantage. This is partly because of high payroll taxes.
The letter reveals that staff costs account for 32.4 per cent of Air France's operating costs, as against 28 per cent for KLM, 24 per cent for IAG (BA and Iberia) and 23.4 per cent for Lufthansa.
Finally, the issue of high fees at ADP (Aeroports de Paris) also disadvantages Air France.
"ADP is a monopoly and airlines are captive customers," concludes the letter.

Obviously not the fault of high costs.

http://www.businesstraveller.com/new...lf-and-low-cos

Re: Everybody’s fault but our own by Air France unions……
 

awful airline :thumbdown:

Re: Everybody’s fault but our own by Air France unions……
 

The fact that Air France is notorious for shit service and stroppy staff, making them last choice for most people doesn't seem to have crossed their ( small) minds.

Re: Everybody’s fault but our own by Air France unions……
 

I expect they'll go on strike shortly. Or trash all their planes in protest.

That'll help.

Re: Everybody’s fault but our own by Air France unions……
 

I agree, crap ground staff too..unhelpful and arrogant.:frown:

Re: Everybody’s fault but our own by Air France unions……
 

New world order special


Hhmmm

Re: Everybody’s fault but our own by Air France unions……
 

Disquietening, isn't it?

Re: Everybody’s fault but our own by Air France unions……
 

I suggest they strike. Usually works for French businesses blackmailing their own government.

Re: Everybody’s fault but our own by Air France unions……
 

They've got a point, though.

Re: Everybody’s fault but our own by Air France unions……
 

Unions have gone way beyond the original idea of making jobs safer and preventing abuses by management etc. We work in countries with no unions and most of us don't feel the need to strike...we simply change jobs.

What makes Air France employees so special that they cannot work for similar pay and benefits to Etihad or Singapore Airlines staff?


N.

Re: Everybody’s fault but our own by Air France unions……
 

Because (I assume) the French social welfare system, from which they can't escape, limits them to 35 hours per week and relatively early retirement. I also assume that AF can't escape from that either. So that's Point 1: AF has to play by French employment rules (including all the other employment legislation that doesn't apply in the UAE), and therefore costs are automatically higher.

Point 2 is that EH/AH's other operating and capital costs are far lower because of subsidies, absence of tax (corporate, social welfare and fuel being, I imagine, the three most significant) and access to slave labour.

I can't see how any carrier from any industrialised country can compete.

Re: Everybody’s fault but our own by Air France unions……
 

The debate about the influence of Gulf-based airlines has also proven one thing - these days people are willing to spend more for better service. This explains why the expensive Emirates flights to Europe tend to be fully or near-fully booked, while cheaper (often European) carriers rarely are.

Re: Everybody’s fault but our own by Air France unions……
 

Aviation fuel is not taxed much, which seems to me extremely stupid. But airlines, being very clever, work out the best places to buy fuel and when i.e. fill up to full in France for a flight to UK and return and take the hit on weight, or only have minimum fuel to UK and uplift there.

Re: Everybody’s fault but our own by Air France unions……
 

Ok, that's one assumption dealt with. So tax in Europe (let's include UK in that for the sake of argument) on aviation fuel is considerably less that that on petrol? Is there any logic in that? (Apart for giving subsidies to European carriers.)

Re: Everybody’s fault but our own by Air France unions……
 

No logic at all.

Re: Everybody’s fault but our own by Air France unions……
 

Mmm... Are the Gulf-based airlines more expensive? When I was flying my family out a couple of times a year from UK to UAE, Etihad was probably the cheapest (although they generally flew KLM because of the convenience of their living only 15 minutes from Leeds/Bradford airport).

Aside from that, you've got to consider the demographic of those flying Etihad and Emirates (in particular those two): for most passengers a hundred pounds or so difference between fares is irrelevant. For passengers not Gulf-based or Gulf-related, I imagine that price is still the major factor.

Re: Everybody’s fault but our own by Air France unions……
 

They are now - even just a year ago, it was debatable, but the prices I have been quoted by Emirates in recent months have been prohibitive. In fact, I have now lost my Skywards Gold status entirely due to flying with others. Ironically, Lufthansa were very good to me earlier this week.

Re: Everybody’s fault but our own by Air France unions……
 

Emirates flights are often significantly cheaper if you're starting from outside the ME. Their are some excellent deals to be had on package holidays from Europe flying Emirates, too. Probably the majority of people we know here in Dubai only fly Emirates if somebody else (i.e. their company) is paying, or they don't have families. Otherwise, it's all about the cheaper carriers - Royal Brunei is popular because it's direct.

Re: Everybody’s fault but our own by Air France unions……
 

I would not say Air France are being entirely truthful when they blame ME operating costs, realistically you would expect the airline operating out of its own hub to be cheaper than the competition flying in there imo.
I would say they are also losing in Europe competing against other European carriers such as Ryanair, who manage to undercut them with the same tax issues by being much more efficient with operating costs.

Re: Everybody’s fault but our own by Air France unions……
 

Yup, couple of us commented on that a while back. I'm still flying UK - DXB - UK and no intention of paying for a one way flight because it's cheaper to fly UK-DXB-UK.
Good site www.skyscanner.net

Re: Everybody’s fault but our own by Air France unions……
 

when I lived in Singapore I usually flew Emirates to London, but from Dubai last time BA were far cheaper.

Re: Everybody’s fault but our own by Air France unions……
 

Have been looking at US data this morning...de unionised for the most part and they are miles ahead of Europe in terms of competitiveness and economics. Companies are actually setting up there to manufacture.

The solution is to get rid or seriously limit the unions and socialised employment laws. The EU is slowly becoming uncompetitive by both industrialised nation standards (well, except for Germany) and global standards.

N.