Leaked Air France-KLM report reveals mistrust and resentment

© Micha Klootwijk

So it turns out that everything outsiders suspected about Air France-KLM may be true. A leaked internal report, put together by the unions using information from staff at Air France and at KLM, somewhat undermines executives’ insistence that all is well. The document confirms that the airlines’ staff have rather stereotypical ideas about the other. The French think the Dutch put money and KLM’s interests first. The Dutch think the French are politically motivated, supercilious and unresponsive. And the Dutch get charged 150% more for lunch in Paris than the French do (which seems a daft issue for management not to have corrected). Thirteen years on and the internal fights continue – but most people in the aviation industry already knew that…