KLM does not intend to emulate its sister company Air France by starting a new long-haul low-cost operation, the Dutch airline's chief executive Pieter Elbers has indicated.
Speaking at the UK Aviation Club in London on 5 April, Elbers said the Amsterdam-based carrier had "no plans" to start a "KLM Boost version", referencing the name of the new unit Air France is establishing at Paris Charles de Gaulle.
Instead, KLM will apply to its long-haul services the cost-saving measures it has pioneered on its medium-haul network over the last two years, Elbers explains.
Those have involved denser aircraft configurations and increased utilisation, he notes, adding: "We are already starting to implement that on the long-haul side as well."
KLM already has a low-cost arm, Transavia, which operates mainly short-haul European and some medium-haul flights.
Air France intends for Boost to begin operations in October. Earlier this year, Air France pilots represented by the carrier's largest pilot union SNPL gave conditional backing in principle to the establishment of Boost.
One of the assurances the union was seeking was over "the balance of activity with KLM", which it sees as a "cornerstone of the Boost project".
Source: Cirium Dashboard
