It's happy families in Brussels, on the surface at least. Sabena's management appears to have won the support of the unions for the airline's 'Horizon '98' restructuring plan, which will lead to lower labour costs and to more flexible working hours.
All four Sabena unions have signed a preliminary agreement, which includes revised work schedules and the loss of 470 jobs from Sabena's total workforce of 9,000 through early retirements and voluntary redundancies. Unions were expected to agree formally to the measures by 31 October.
The deal follows two months of negotiations and is set to save Sabena BFr2 billion ($63.4 million) a year by 1999. The saving represents labour's contribution to the Horizon plan's target of cutting Sabena's costs by BFr4.7 billion by 1999. The other BFr2.7 billion will come from 'management initiatives'.
The unions' agreement combines a mixture of a choice of three cost-cutting options, presented by chief executive Paul Reutlinger when he unveiled the Horizon plan in June. These included a choice of salary reductions, up to a maximum of 12 per cent; up to 1,270 job losses; and revised work schedules.
Sabena's management will look for the remaining savings in four core divisions - cargo, catering, ground operations and technical - to 'attain the same cost-level as that of its direct competitors,' says Sabena.
As Sabena concludes negotiations with its unions, the airline is understood to be holding negotiations with Brussels-based Virgin Express about cooperation on flights to London. At presstime, Sabena refused to deny there was a possibility of an alliance or commercial agreement being concluded. Virgin Express chief executive Jonathan Ornstein, whose carrier is competing with the Belgian flag carrier on six European trunk routes, hinted somewhat mysteriously: 'We do a lot of things cooperatively with Sabena', presumably referring to handling activities at Brussels airport.
The move would run counter to former assertions by the Virgin Group chairman Richard Branson that he would never offer air links between London and Brussels or Paris to avoid competing directly with Eurostar services. Virgin is part of the consortium offering rail links through the Channel tunnel.
Lois Jones
Source: Airline Business
