Air France says to shed over 5,000 jobs by 2014

Air France logo from FACEBOOK.COM

PARIS—French airline Air France said Thursday it is to cut over 5,000 jobs, or around 10 percent of its workforce, in voluntary departures by 2014.

A total of 5,122 jobs will be shed and the struggling carrier said in a statement that all departures would be voluntary provided a new framework agreement can be signed with unions.

“Air France has chosen to work in complete transparency and to privilege social dialogue to find structural and sustainable solutions, included in corporate agreements,” it said.

If new framework agreements are signed by staff, then “Air France has pledged not to make redundancies and to implement various measures to support the necessary reduction in staff numbers,” it said.

The struggling Franco-Dutch carrier Air France-KLM has launched a major cost-saving program after posting a loss of 809 million euros ($1.0 billion) for 2011 and a first-quarter net loss in 2012 of 368 million euros.

Shares in Air France-KLM shot up by six percent after the job cuts announcement.