THE HAGUE, July 18 (Xinhua) -- Cooperation within the Franco-Dutch airline Air France-KLM has been so difficult that executives doubt its continuity in the current competitive market, Dutch broadcaster NOS reported on Tuesday, based on a leaked internal report regarding the company's management culture.
NOS stated that, 13 years after the French airline Air France and Dutch airline KLM merged, there is great distrust between employees of both companies. "The Dutch and the French do not really understand each other, they both want to be the dominant party and do not put the interest of the group first."
According to NOS, a French and a Dutch researcher spoke to almost 50 managers within the airline for the research commissioned by the works councils of Air France and KLM.
The interviews showed that employees of Air France find that KLM puts its own interest first and does not want to look at the interests of the French. KLM employees, on their part, find that the interests of the Dutch airline are not sufficiently respected by Air France.
"The French have the idea that the Dutch only think about money and are always ready to fight for the profits, and that they are afraid of no-one. The Dutch think that the French are stuck in hierarchy, and stuck to political interest that not necessarily are the company's interests," NOS cited writings by the researchers.
It was stated that, because of the mutual distrust, the cooperation falters in many areas. One of the managers said that the distrust is enlarged because employees of both airlines "daily" leak information to the press, to influence the public opinion.
Many of the respondents feel like the merge between the airlines does not meet the expectations. "The extent to which employees are disillusioned is shocking," the researchers wrote. "People are pessimistic, frustrated and fatigued because they feel that they are not listened to," they added.
However, there are also enough employees with a positive attitude, the researchers wrote, and the wish to break away from the stereotyping that hinders Air France-KLM's success still exists.
The researchers did not provide explicit advice in their report. KLM gave a reaction regarding the report to Dutch current affairs television program EenVandaag saying that "in the coming period, we will decide together with Air France and Air France-KLM on how to draw lessons from this and how to achieve improvements where necessary."
Since May 2004, Air France and KLM Royal Dutch Airlines have become the largest European airline group. Each airline has retained its individual identity, trade name and brand.
