Skift Global Forum Preview: Air France-KLM CEO Ben Smith Reveals How He’s Winning Over Labor

Since Air France and KLM merged in 2004 to create what was then the world's largest carrier by revenue, a series of CEOs has tried to keep the peace in Paris and Amsterdam. These executives allowed managers in each country to operate the carriers as they pleased while begging French unions to accept any deal that might make the company more competitive with EasyJet, Ryanair, and other low-cost carriers. But the current CEO, Ben Smith, arrived a year ago with a different mandate. Yes, he wants to make stakeholders happy, including employees and the two national governments. Yet Smith also wants to shake the malaise that has made Air France-KLM the worst-performing of Europe's major airline groups, despite the storied history of both carriers. "The main challenge going forward is, how do we get our brands to the top of the industry?" Smith said in a telephone interview. KLM is not so far away. The Dutch airline was in rough financial shape before it merged with Air France, but s