Rescue plan presented for AOM and Air Liberté
The head of the SAirGroup's ailing French carriers, Marc Rochet, has presented a rescue plan to unions, which could lead to the loss of 1,500 jobs.
Union representatives said Rochet, appointed in February to oversee the restructuring of AOM/Air Liberté and sister airline, Air Littoral, proposed cutting the size of the combined group by 25 per cent.
Unions said this would involve around 1500 redundancies. They said Rochet wanted his plans to be implemented by November. The two sides reportedly agreed on the appointment of a mediator to help draw up the details of the plan.
The SAirGroup said earlier this month that its 49 per cent stake in the three airlines was causing a monthly cash drain of SFr80 million ($47 million). The three carriers accumulated combined losses of SFr567 million last year.
The SAirGroup has already suspended subsidies for Air Littoral and will take a decision on whether to cut support to the other airlines later this month.
But the company has fallen foul of the French government which has urged shareholders to assume their social responsibilities.
The three companies employ a total of 7,000 people.
swissinfo with agencies
In compliance with the JTI standards
More: SWI swissinfo.ch certified by the Journalism Trust Initiative
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.