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How Air France-KLM's CEO Wants It to Be Like Other Airline Groups

Patrick Whyte

Photo Credit: Benjamin Smith (right) Air France-KLM CEO. The French division is trying to strike a deal with pilots. Air France

Skift Take

New CEO Benjamin Smith is trying to do something his predecessors failed at — bring Air France and KLM closer together. The two airlines need to work in sync more if the group is going to compete better with rivals in Europe.

While Air France and KLM are part of the same holding company, they are two very different airlines. In recent years the French arm has struggled, partly as a result of a long-running labor dispute. KLM, on the other, hand has quietly got on with business. Air France-KLM's new CEO Ben Smith wants to change this and bring the two businesses closer together. “Obviously, [this is] a very unique set up, the way we have it here. There's no comparable around the world. But the more we can do to optimize and do what most major

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