t used to be called Air Inter. Now, its legal name is Air France Europe but it trades as Air Inter Europe. It is majority owned by the Air France Group, but is legally a separate company. In 1997, it will be merged into Air France's European route operation, which just happens to be called Air France Europe.
A French regional airline called Proteus has ordered two Dornier 328s, which it will operate on behalf of Europair, a project group within Air France for the Air France/Air Inter Express regional network. Confused?
You might well be. So are the employees and customers who have to deal with this preposterous situation. This proliferation of brands and trade names is Air France Group's solution to the European Commission's state aid condition banning a merger between Air France and Air Inter until April 1997.
The market tends to be unforgiving about such a wilderness of brands. Lufthansa confused everybody with Lufthansa Express, and Continental failed to catch the imagination of employees or the public with Continental Lite (or was it CALite?).
Name changes can make sense. Swissair recently renamed its information systems division Atraxis. This computer-generated non-word does little to stir the imagaination, but it does help to create a new company culture, distinct from Swissair.
In a service industry, employees need to feel a sense of identity, of belonging to an organisation which they understand and relate to. They then have a chance of attracting and keeping customers, who also detest confusion and change. Any brand change should follow these rules.
Source: Airline Business
