Each Sunday, in "Zoom in", Axel de Tarlé projects himself on an economic or societal fact.
In a letter sent to employees, the boss of Airbus, announces "bitter" decisions for employment by "the end of July".
It's an incredible turnaround. At the beginning of the year, the boss of Airbus explained that his number one problem was to meet demand. He saw no cloud on the horizon. I asked him, if he was not afraid of the arrival of a Chinese competitor, "no problem. We are a generation ahead," he said. So nothing and no one could destabilize Airbus!
Well, yes! A virus. Indeed, this letter sent to employees shows the complete turnaround. Guillaume Faury speaks of a "long" crisis which implies a "significant reduction" of the company. Anxiety for the 140,000 employees of the group, who thought they were untouchable!
And yet Axel, air traffic will eventually start again. This epidemic is not eternal.
This virus has permanently broken the dynamics of the sector. First on leisure flights, this epidemic has shown the fragility of our societies. Which imposes strong decisions on the climate. Hence the ban made on Air France to fly planes when there are TGV, Austria which prohibits tickets under 40 euros or the Citizen Convention which wants to prohibit the expansion of airports and introduce a surcharge on tickets for leisure flights.
As for business flights, those which bring in the most, here is the testimony of the boss of l'Oréal, the most international of French companies. In Friday's Echoes , the CEO explains that with video conferencing, L'Oréal wants to reduce travel by 30 to 40%. This epidemic has permanently broken this economic sector which, unluckily, is THE French specialty. 29 billion euros in surplus last year. In fact, this is not a consolation, but the only activity that is spared is the military part. Fighter planes, on the contrary, are still on the rise with geopolitical tensions erupting around the globe.