Air France-KLM and Lufthansa CEOs Unite to Push Back Against Gulf Rivals
Photo Credit: Air France-KLM and Lufthansa Group are two of Europe's 'Big Three' legacy firms. Markus Mainka/Adobe Stock
Skift Take
Two of the most powerful executives in European aviation positioned this rare joint interview not in the context of solidarity, but as a matter of industry security and survival.
It’s not often that leaders of Europe’s fiercest airline rivals talk in tandem. But that’s what happened when Air France-KLM’s Ben Smith and Lufthansa Group’s Carsten Spohr sat down for the first time to give a joint interview.
The unlikely duo’s collective message published in Les Echos and Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung was clear: Europe’s biggest airlines are tired of playing by rules they say tilt in favor of non-European carriers.
Both argued that Europe’s aviation industry – and the 12 million jobs tied to it – is under threat from state-backed competitors in the Gulf and Turkey. They claim the airlines enjoy advantages that European carriers can only dream of.
credit: air france-klm“The lack of a level playing field in European aviation” was Ben Smith’s opening line. He warned that non-European airlines now control more than half of all traffic to and from the continent. “Some aren’t subject to the same governm
