Air France and U.S. partner Delta will look for another handling partner at Amsterdam Schiphol Airport after recent strike action by KLM ground staff, a KLM spokesman said Monday.
“Air France and Delta have indicated that the strikes are an important reason for the decision,” said a KLM spokesman.
KLM ground staff have been on strike several times in recent weeks. Unions FNV and CNV organised the strikes and hundreds of flights were cancelled.
“Like us, Air France and Delta had to deal with millions in damages and great passenger dissatisfaction,” said the spokesman.
A judge on Monday ruled in summary proceedings KLM had filed that a new strike planned for next Wednesday may go ahead under conditions.
The decision by Air France and Delta “directly affects KLM,” the airline said in a statement. KLM is still assessing the impact on finances and employment. Unions FNV and CNV fear ending the collaborations could cost more than 100 jobs.
The unions deny the strikes are the only reason for the decision. “This must have been in play for some time,” CNV negotiator Souleiman Amallah told news agency ANP. According to Amallah, there have been “performance problems” in the handling of Air France and Delta planes for months.
FNV leader John van Dorland said, “They are just looking for the cheapest handler.”
Passengers are not expected to notice much of the change, the KLM spokesman said. “It mainly concerns work ‘under the wing,’ such as loading and unloading and pushback, the pushing away of aircraft at the gate. That, of course, is not visible to passengers. The impact will mainly be internal, especially at ground services.”
