KLM faces several challenges after it was announced this week that the largest loss since the corona crisis was recorded in the first quarter.
One of the reasons for the loss of 480 million euros is that KLM had to cancel a large number of flights due to a shortage of technicians. Aircraft were therefore grounded longer and the maintenance of the Airbus A330 was even outsourced to other countries, including Belgium and the United Kingdom. The cancellations contributed 65 million euros to the quarterly loss. ‘The only way forward is more hands, because there still appears to be a shortage of 240 people in the maintenance department. Nothing has yet been arranged to increase training capacity. This is a stay of execution, because a wave of retirements is coming at KLM,” says Piet Visser, chairman of the Dutch trade union for aviation technicians (NVLT). The Telegraph by which he means that older mechanics are retiring and that the young recruitment is (still) minimal.
Higher labor costs
In addition, fixed wage costs increased by fifteen percent to compensate for inflation. ‘It is a major challenge to significantly reduce costs, but the company has faced hotter challenges. It will be hard and smart work,” says Mark Rademaker of the Association of KLM Professionals (VKP). The way out is to generate more turnover with the same costs, because reducing labor costs is currently a major challenge. However, higher efficiency with higher turnover could possibly be achieved if KLM were to continue paying its staff for overtime.
