About to complete a year of operation, the airline Joon has an uncertain future. Created by Air France to be an alternative to low-cost airlines, the company should serve tourist destinations on terms more advantageous than those of the parent company. The target was the younger audience, from which came an acronym of his denomination that sounds like the French word “jeune” (young).
The problem is that the new president of Air France, the Canadian Benjamin Smith, had told a Reuters source that he did not understand the reason for its existence. Joon today uses an old ex-Air France fleet and new employees who cost less, but do not demonstrate financial advantage to justify it, in addition to being criticized by investors, employees and customers themselves.
Former President of Air Canada, Smith has taken over as the group’s CE – which also includes Dutch airline KLM – to improve the companies’ profitability has shown an aggressiveness in the difficult decisions ahead. One of them was to return five of the ten A380s operating in the fleet of Air France, a plane that has a symbolic importance for France, where it is the main base of Airbus.
Now the new CEO wants to cut costs with the crew who are being pressured into giving up benefits like swapping central hotels for rooms near airports on long-haul flights.
As Joon is criticized by these officials, the company’s extinction could serve as a sign of goodwill from the new boss. Employers’ moods are at their worst to the point that strikes this year caused the fall of their predecessor, Frenchman Jean-Marc Janaillac.
