STOCK MARKET-Air France down in anticipation of a new strike
Editorial Reuters

“The risk of new strikes weighs on the action”, comments Ion-Marc Valahu, Fund manager at Clairinvest in Geneva, who does not hold shares in the company.

PARIS, 13 august (Reuters) – Air France-KLM shares fell sharply on Monday morning on the Paris Stock Exchange the day after the warning from the main Air France pilots union suggesting a strike at the start of the school year..

In the first exchanges, the Franco-Dutch airline loses 5,27% to 8,478 euros, signing the biggest drop in the SBF120 index (0,55%).

“The risk of new strikes weighs on the action”, comments Ion-Marc Valahu, Fund manager at Clairinvest in Geneva, who does not hold shares in the company.

Since the beginning of the year, the price of Air France-KLM fell by approximately 40%.

The president of the national union of airline pilots (SNPL), Philippe Evain, promised Sunday in an interview with Le Parisien “fifteen days of strike” if the new management of the airline refuses to resume negotiations on salaries at the start of the school year.

This statement raises the threat of a new social crisis within the airline, while it is still looking for a new CEO.

The board of directors of Air France-KLM must appoint by the end of August-beginning of September a successor to Jean-Marc Janaillac who resigned in May following the failure of a referendum on salaries.

The social crisis, which pitted Air France staff and management against each other during the year, has already trained 15 strike days in the first half for an estimated cost of 355 million euros.

The economic site latribune.fr wrote last week that the Air France-KLM nomination committee would negotiate with a North American candidate immersed in the world of air transport.. It would be, according to Le Monde, de Benjamin Smith, the chief operating officer of Air Canada.

In the Parisian, Philippe Evain says he is “worried” about this choice. “We think that we need a leader who knows the specificities of French social dialogue, who masters the details of the European air market and the forces involved, between low-cost airlines and historic airlines”, he estimated.

In a column in the Journal du Dimanche, Paul Farges, representative of pilot shareholders on the board of directors of Air France-KLM, is surprised by the choice of a Canadian candidate.

“It is useful to say what Air France no longer needs: enough candidate ambassadors of external interests”, he declared, adding that “the choice that will be made by the manager must take into account the opinion of his employees.”

Gilles Guillaume, with Sudip Kar-Gupta, edited by Wilfrid Exbrayat