Astrid Hennekam
Air France-KLM U.S. vice president of sales Astrid Hennekam spoke to BTN transportation editor Michael B.
Baker about the carriers' partnership with Delta Air Lines, fleet improvements
and network growth.
How are you deepening integration among Air France and KLM, as well as the relationship with Delta Air Lines?
We work together with Delta and ask them to do sales for us in the U.S., and Delta’s doing a great job. With the joint venture, we have very good contracts where all the partners are represented. It’s beneficial for the customers, and it doesn’t matter if you fly with Delta, Air France or KLM.
[On the reservations side], we are aligning all the seats. Some time ago, it was difficult to buy [seats with extra legroom] with a KLM ticket on Delta or with an Air France ticket on KLM, so we have invested in IT so it’s interaligned so it’s easier for the customer to buy whatever they want. That’s our goal, to make things easier for the customers: The check-in process and the whole journey should be a pleasant experience.
What’s happening on the product side?
We try to invest in our cabins, not only in business class and first class but also in the tourist class and in the premium economy. We see that it’s a very attractive kind of seat. Some corporations are not so big or they have special travel policy, and they tell you if you go from New York to Europe, it’s only six hours. So they don’t want to pay for you to sit in business class, but if you have to work the moment you arrive, it’s tough if you fly in tourist class. So now, we have this premium economy, which is in between with more recline and more space. On Air France, on all flights, you have a special cabin, so it’s more relaxing. If you have your own space, it’s much quieter. On KLM, we have that [special space] only on the 747.
We are running [first-class suite La Premiere] out of the 777, the new one. We used to have eight seats in the plane, and [now] there are only four, so you have much more room. We are doing [the same] with the new business class seat, both with Air France and KLM. On Air France … the seats touch in a way that you always have aisle access. You have seats in the middle, but they can go out on the aisle.
What capacity are you adding?
We just opened up Vancouver for Air France and Edmonton for KLM. Montpellier, [France], we added to the network. In Poland, [KLM] had Warsaw already and added Krakow. You have a good portion of U.S., Canada, Mexico and South America. Europe is huge, of course. And you have Asia, where we have very good coverage with our partner China Southern. And you have Africa, where we have 77 destinations.
Are your sustainability initiatives coming up more frequently in corporate contracting talks?
It’s becoming more important for the decision they take. We are doing a lot of projects on biofuel at the moment. You have to explore which one is best and has the best performance because you mix it with other fuels. We are still exploring this market, and we are ahead on it. The KLM [flight attendants] got new suits, and the old suits were used to make carpet. With food, we make use of … higher quality, cage-free eggs and fish that is caught in a sustainable way. With food, you want it to be good, not manipulated. You have all the other things, like the light materials so you don’t spend as much fuel. … This becomes even part of the contracts.