Struggling Air France to cut additional 2,800 jobs to save $600 mn

Air France plans to cut a further 2,800 jobs next year through voluntary redundancy as the French carrier struggles to cope with weak passenger demand.

Speaking at a news conference, Frederic Gagey, CEO of Air France, said, ''We are in a period of weak demand. We have felt the full brunt of the cyclicality of air transport.''

The latest job cuts are on top of 5,120 layoffs announced earlier this year by the Paris-based carrier. Air France employs 69,000 people globally.

Air France said it was in negotiations with unions regarding the latest planned cuts.

Air France, a part of Franco-Dutch group Air France-KLM, said that the additional cuts will bring in savings of €450 million ($600 million) a year, which is part of its restructuring plan of reducing costs by around €2 billion annually by 2015.

To rein in costs, Air France plans to maintain its strong presence on the short and medium-haul operations in the French market and transfer most of the short flights in France and across Europe to its low-cost corporate sibling Transavia.

Transavia will operate five additional aircrafts from the summer 2014 season, and will expand its offering to new European destinations from Paris-Orly.

Like other European air carriers, Air France has been losing money due the prolonged economic woes of Europe that has lowered the demand for air travel, high fuel costs, and competition from low-cost carriers in Europe in short-haul flights and from Middle East carriers on long-haul routes.