New governance at Air France-KLM: priority to efficiency (and much noise for nothing)

Air France-KLM has just given birth to a new governance after a period of questioning about the future of Pieter Elbers, the chairman of the KLM board of directors, who will finally keep his position.

A depoliticized and business-oriented Air France-KLM

In the list of priorities that we had drawn up for Ben Smith (although we doubt very much that he had read it) there was the simplification of the organization for faster decisions and go-to-market. We believe it is vital to depoliticize a company where too many people have the power to say no and to slow down and develop synergies between Air France and KLM, which have never really consummated their union.

In this context, the wildest rumors have been circulating about the future of Pieter Elbers, who Ben Smith is said get rid of. In the end, the latter will keep his position and will join, alongside Anne Rigail, President of Air France, a CEO Committee, headed by Ben Smith, which will also include Frédéric Gagey (Chief Financial Officer of Air-France-KLM). At TravelGuys we can only be happy to see that 3 of the members are real industry professionals and the presence of finance at their side makes sense. A very small committee to decide and move forward quickly.

Ben Smith will join the KLM Board of Directors.

Air France-KLM is finally starting to look like a company and no longer like a retirement home for senior officials. In all low Ben Smith goes fast and we like that.

How did Elbers stay in place?

After all the rumors of the past week one might wonder how Pieter Elbers could not only save his head but also join the CEO Committee.

But was he really in danger? Rumors are just rumors, but we can still think that there is no smoke without fire. KLM’s desire for independence did not fit into Ben Smith’s vision, but we cannot blame Elbers either, as we wrote last week, for being wary of too much supervision by an Air France that is rarely exemplary in terms of business rigor.

Has he received any guarantees? Certainly and this is the most plausible option. Just the setting up and the composition of the CEO Committee must have given him the guarantees that things were going to change and that he would have nothing to lose by behaving like a team player. And this is a good thing, because Elbers is certainly one of the best managers the group has ever known, and his departure would have been a great loss, not to mention the mistrust that his dismissal would have generated within KLM, where he enjoys the unwavering support of his troops.

In short, a new page is being turned and, let’s hope, a new era for Air France-KLM, which will be able to put on its challenger suit.

Photo : Air France-KLM by Andrew Balcombe via Shutterstock