There have been series of talks and reports of airlines slashing salaries, making up to 19,000 jobs redundant, including crews and pilots. Air France-KLM has also joined the queue by seeking about 8,300 voluntary staff departures at its French arm, including pilots, cabin crew and ground staff.
France has warned flag carrier Air France-KLM against making forced job cuts, with Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire saying such a move would constitute a red line the carrier should not cross after receiving a state bailout.
Air France-KLM received 7 billion euros ($7.9 billion) from France and its Dutch arm is poised to get up to 4 billion more from the Netherlands.
He said in a statement, "we spent money to save Air France, I am saying that there must not be any forced job cut"
Le Maire declined to confirm a report on Wednesday that the airline is seeking about 8,300 voluntary staff departures at its French arm, the cuts could include around 300 pilots, 2,000 cabin crew and 6,000 ground staff, or roughly 17 per cent of employees. Any job cut will add to thousands of jobs on the line in the sector in Europe.
British Airways created a political firestorm with moves to scrap 12,000 posts, while Deutsche Lufthansa AG may have 22,000 surplus staff as it shrinks operations.
Le Maire's comments show that Benjamin Smith (Air France-KLM) is under pressure to avoid enforced dismissals, a move the CEO has already said he doesn't want to make.
"The state will back a company that becomes profitable and is solid." Le Maire said.
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