Dutch KLM to remain full division of Air France-KLM

Dutch air company KLM will remain a full division of the integrated airline holding Air France-KLM, despite plans to manage the company as a multinational, future chief executive Alexandre de Juniac told Dutch newspaper Financial Daily on Wednesday. De Juniac, who will take over from Jean-Cyril Spinetta on July 1, plans to run the company more as a multinational, meaning more power will be given to the holding that stands above the two independently operating divisions KLM and Air France, the FD wrote. "We are currently a French-Dutch company but we have to become a multinational like Heineken or Unilever," De Juniac told the paper. The centralization by the headquarters in Paris led to Dutch fear that these measures would be at the expense of Schiphol airport's position and the efficiency of KLM. But De Juniac stressed in the interview with the newspaper that this would not be the case. "The purpose of these internal changes is to be able to respond faster to changes in the aviation market," De Juniac said. In addition, he excluded the possibility that the new organizational structure would lead to additional job losses. KLM earlier announced a cut in workforce of around 10 per cent, due to reorganizations. KLM is one of the biggest employers in the Netherlands, accounting for 30,000 jobs.