The cycles follow each other and are similar. Air Inter, Air Inter Europe, Air France Europe then Air France.
Now, Air France, KLM, Transavia Holland, Transavia France, HOP!, Joon and soon another brand for a future Long-haul Low Cost?
Rationalization of the French airline industry at the end of the 1990s
At the end of the 1980s, the French aviation landscape was very fragmented. We had mainly :
- Air France, the leader and focused on long-haul routes, especially to North America and Japan
- UTA, mainly focused on Africa
- Air Inter, for domestic services
- Air Liberté, which flies to Europe and French overseas departments and territories
- AOM, which flies to the West Indies, La Reunion and Tahiti
- Air Littoral, which serves the French regions.
UTA merged with Air France at the end of 1992, AOM with Air Liberté in 2001 and then with Air Littoral to become a subsidiary of British Airways and then Swissair, and finally Air Lib before going bankrupt. Air Inter merged with Air France also in 1990.
Before merging with the Dutch, Air France had a unified brand.
A merger with KLM that never ended
Since 2004, Air France and KLM merged to create what was at the time the largest airline group in Europe, and which has since created imitators, namely the Lufthansa group (which owns Brussels Airlines, Swiss and Austrian) and IAG (which owns British Airways, Iberia, Vueling and Level).
The problem is that the merger between Air France and KLM never really ended. Worse, Lufthansa and IAG went much faster in creating merged entities between the airlines, and started much later.
In addition, the network combination effect has not worked very well between Air France and KLM, with many overlapping destinations.
The airlines could have specialized or differentiated themselves to appeal to this or that customer segment: this is not the case. Excluding refurbished aircraft, comfort on KLM Business is even better (this still concerns 57% of the Air France fleet to date, which is still on the old Toboggan – NEV seat concept).
Credit : Gonzague Dambricourt
The creation of a low-cost airline and separate legal entities
In the bridal bouquet of the Air France-KLM merger, there was a small leisure airline owned by KLM called Transavia.
Established for several years in the Netherlands, the group decided to establish it in France... But this was without counting on the unions, which are opposed to the creation of a low-cost subsidiary.
Worse still, they have gone so far as to demand that it should be a separate legal entity for France, that it should be Air France pilots seconded to this entity who fly the planes, and that the fleet should be limited.
Basically, it is already burdening the airline from the start and preventing its development. They will even go so far as to prevent the earning of Flying Blue miles to prevent the airline from “phagocytizing” Air France. Pitiful and above all, very uninspired.
Joon and HOP!, but why?
But at Air France, there have been worse things in terms of brands.
First, there was HOP! Basically, Air Inter was recreated. A brand dedicated to domestic point-to-point flights (i.e. from Orly). With what cost structure? The same as Air France, of course. They tried to cut back on the service a bit. The only advantage: Air France, Regional, Britair and Airlinair short-haul flights have been grouped under the same flight certificate (and this took a few years).
And finally, there was the little last one, Joon. We won’t remind you of the uselessness of this brand here. But to assume that millenials have different expectations is a big mistake. The proof is that they continue to fly with Gulf airlines, especially when the so-called Millenials’ destinations are Seychelles, Tehran or Delhi.
A global trend towards rationalization
All this is obviously at odds with the new global trend towards rationalization.
- Singapore Airlines has just announced the end of SilkAir, all flights being sold under its own brand,
- Eurowings and Germanwings have merged,
- There are rumors of a merger between Vueling and Level at IAG,
- LAN and TAM have merged the two airlines almost completely.
Bottom line
When creating a new brand, one must have a specific goal and evaluate the impact on the airline’s image. Couldn’t we have a two-headed Air-France KLM company, offering a seamless experience on short, medium and long-haul routes, with a medium and long-haul low-cost airline under the same name? It would make much more sense.