French finmin calls on Air France not to make compulsory job cuts

PARIS (Reuters) – French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire on Thursday called on Air France not to make compulsory job cuts but declined to confirm media reports saying the airline was planning to cut more than 8,000 jobs based on voluntary departures.

Le Maire also told France Inter radio he wished that any job losses at Air France would represent less than 8,000 posts.

“Readjustments will be necessary for Air France,” Le Maire said.

Bloomberg News reported on Wednesday that Air France was planning to cut 8,300 jobs based on voluntary departures.

In April, Air France-KLM secured 7 billion euros ($7.87 billion) in French government aid.

(Reporting by Sudip Kar-Gupta and Leigh Thomas; writing by Matthieu Protard; editing by Jason Neely)