Air France-KLM recently announced a $1.3 billion plan to retrofit its international fleet. Travel Weekly's Kate Rice talked to Patrick Alexandre, executive vice president of sales and marketing, and Pieter Bootsma, executive vice president of commercial marketing, about the significance of the investment and its joint venture on the North Atlantic with Delta Air Lines and Alitalia.
Q: In 2013 the joint venture between Air France, KLM, Delta and Alitalia generated $13 billion in revenues. That's a big number.
Bootsma: It is a virtual airline, It is acting as an airline. It has revenue and costs and it is a profitable one, and if you see the size, it is ... larger than British Airways. Our 822 flights per week between the U.S. and Europe represent 26% of all transatlantic passengers.
Q: Will Etihad's purchase of 49% of Alitalia have any impact on Alitalia's participation in the joint venture?
Alexandre: Never forget that for Alitalia, being part of this joint venture is an asset.
Q: How can you standardize this product?
Alexandre: It is a mix of airlines. When signing this agreement, they commit to work for the best of what they can do for their own flavor. It is a challenging way to work together.
So, take the example of Air France, you have seen the improvements in the new cabin. In the same way, KLM is launching its new business seats. And with the Americans, they have already improved their product.
So we work together, and we challenge each other.
Q: What did your chairman and CEO mean when he said this investment in new cabins put Air France "back in the race"? Were you losing market share?
Bootsma: We are not losing market share. Customer appreciation goes down. It's a real must to have full-flat beds. That's the case on the North Atlantic and even more so on Asia routes. Sixty to 70% of business class will be flat bed. The worldwide standard has come to this.
Q: What is the joint venture's major focus?
Bootsma: The joint venture consists to a large extent of connecting big hubs to one another. A lot of our customers on flights are connecting, and offering a seamless connecting product is one of the keys.
Alexandre: We want no issues for our passengers. If something goes wrong, we would like the other partner to recognize the customer for who they are. If they are a high-value customer, you would like them to treat them as we would treat them ourselves. We are in charge of the customer when they are in Europe, the same as Delta is in charge of the customer when they are in ... Minnesota.
Q: How well are your systems integrated?
Bootsma: If you compare us to Lufthansa and United and American and British Airways, we are pretty sure we are more deeply integrated, both commercially and operationally. We were the first to start with KLM and Northwest in 1998.
Q: KLM and Northwest had the same sales team; is that still true?
Bootsma: It's the same now for this big joint venture. We built it on exactly the same principles.
Follow Kate Rice on Twitter @krtravelweekly.