KLM reappoints CEO to speed up cost cuts as operations chief steps aside
On Monday, Air France-KLM reappointed KLM Chief Executive Marjan Rintel for a second four-year term as the airline prepares to accelerate cost cuts and restructure its operations. At the same time, Chief Operating Officer Maarten Stienen said he will not seek reappointment, citing the upcoming changes at the airline.
KLM has already begun a series of measures to reduce costs, including the elimination of 250 office jobs, and further steps are expected in the coming months, a KLM spokesperson said.
The CEO, who joined KLM in 2022 after serving as chief executive of Dutch rail operator NS, will focus more on internal organization and direct management of operations rather than external relations during her second term.
The airline has faced high costs and reduced aircraft capacity in recent years. “KLM operates in a challenging and highly competitive environment. To be successful in that environment, we must have a strong operational and financial foundation,” the CEO said in a statement.
“That is why we are intensifying and accelerating our transformation. We will take structural measures that simplify our organization, improve our operation, increase our revenues and lower our costs. Together with my colleagues on the executive team and management, I will steer the operation more directly.”
KLM is now searching for a successor to Stienen. Last year, the airline reduced the size of its executive board from five members to four.
Union reaction to the CEO’s reappointment was cautious. Reinier Castelein, chairman of labor union De Unie, said confidence in the CEO remains despite weak results. “Despite the disappointing financial results, a persistent staff shortage and lagging production, [she] is being given the confidence that things will improve in a next term,” he said. “That confidence comes with an even further change in management and an even stronger mandate from Paris to get KLM moving again. That makes the congratulations… ones with mixed feelings.”
