KLM Royal Dutch Airlines (KL, Amsterdam Schiphol) is to begin talks with its unions over another round of job cuts the chairman of the cabin personnel union VHKP, Bob van der Wal, has said.
In an interview with Dutch paper, De Telegraaf, van der Wal said KLM wants to boost productivity by 20% by 2020 while reducing its labour costs by 10%. Collectively, this would translate to between 500 to 1,000 jobs being cut by the middle of next year.
“We are still discussing. Forced redundancies are out of the question for us,” the union boss told the newspaper.
Van der Wal added that he has also been warned that more aggressive steps would have to be taken should the carrier fail to grow in the coming years.
KLM has, however, dismissed van der Wal's figures labelling them "pure guesswork."
Last month, Air France-KLM announced plans to cut operating costs by EUR350 million (USD365 million) this year while confirming plans to cut a further 800 jobs over the next three years through buyouts and early retirements. The layoffs, which follow the loss of 8,000 jobs at the group over the last three years, will affect 500 groundhandling staff at French regional airports and 300 flight attendants.
