Smith to Forge New Air France-KLM

摘要

AIR FRANCE-KLM was the pioneer of the consolidation game in Europe. In the first four years after the 2004 merger between Air France and KLM it made significant progress in showing its rivals how to benefit from a merger of national flag branded airlines. But since the peak of the last cycle and the global financial crisis, the group has lagged its rivals, brought down by excessively weak financial performance at Air France. The group now has a new CEO — remarkably an aviation professional, non-French and non-Establishment — given the task of returning the group to its former glory. Can he do it?