© Artur Widak / NurPhoto / NurPhoto via AFP
– Every day, Roissy operates 1,300 aircraft movements, half of which concern Air France – KLM flights.
It is a very angry boss who is attacking the year 2025. The phlegmatic Canadian Ben Smith, known and recognized for having eased internal tensions within Air France – KLM, the group he has led since 2018, has decided to start the year on the offensive. After presenting his wishes last week at the Palais Garnier in Paris, he is handing out the picks. First to the Bayrou government which intends to take up the idea put on the table by Michel Barnier’s team of increasing the solidarity tax on plane tickets (formerly the Chirac tax, created to finance the fight against AIDS). For Air France – KLM, this surcharge would double the contribution it already pays, namely 140 million euros for last year. More surprisingly, Ben Smith is now directly attacking another actor in the public sphere, Groupe ADP.
In an interview with Parisian this Monday, Ben Smith believes that the manager of Roissy (1,300 plane movements per day on average) and Orly (600 movements/day) does not treat his companies’ planes well enough. He criticizes ADP for contact rates, that is to say the establishment of a gateway so that passengers can reach the terminal directly without going through the small shuttles on the tarmac, which are much lower. than for other companies. “ In Roissy, our contact rate fluctuates between 85% and 90%. At Terminal 1 where our foreign competitors are (American companies in particular, Editor’s note), it is almost 100%. We are treated less well than foreign companies even though the State is the majority shareholder of ADP! », denounces Ben Smith.
-ADP says it is surprised by Ben Smith’s comments
It did not take very long for Groupe ADP to react, and this in the midst of a transition of power since the historic CEO, Augustin de Romanet, should hand over to Philippe Pascal, deputy general director in charge of Finance, freshly selected by the ‘Élysée to take over. After expressing “ his surprise at the comments made » by Ben Smith, Groupe ADP indicates this Monday in a press release that “ Air France hub activity represents more than 600 flights per day i.e. almost half of Paris-CDG traffic (…) Regarding the contact rate at Paris-CDG, Groupe ADP points out that that of all Air France operations is higher than that of other airlines from Paris-CDG (90% large aircraft and 88% medium aircraft for Air France and respectively 87% large aircraft and 78% medium aircraft for all other airlines) ».
Since Air France has mainly positioned itself at terminals 2E and 2F, where the national pavilion was notably able to refurbish an XXL lounge dedicated to its Business customers, Groupe ADP has finally completed, just before the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, the renovation of the historic Terminal 1 (shaped like a flying saucer), now reserved for foreign companies. And inevitably, the reception improved in T1, which reinforces the frustration of Ben Smith, who also believes that he is not playing on equal terms with the big foreign majors benefiting from almost non-existent kerosene taxation (in the case Gulf companies like Emirates or Qatar Airways), or less restrictive social conditions (in the case of European low-cost airlines like Ryanair, easyJet, Vueling, etc.). So many parameters which, according to the general director of Air France – KLM, explain the less competitiveness of his group, whose stock market share has just reached its historic low (6.95 euros), down 35% on one year.
For Philippe Pascal, future CEO of Groupe ADP whose appointment is now in the hands of Parliament, after receiving this weekend’s validation from the Élysée, the first project will therefore be to restore oil in his relationship with Air France-KLM. Because whether they like it or not, the two groups have no choice but to walk hand in hand.
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