From today's Scotsman:
Scottish routes under threat as KLM wields axe
Andrew Murray-Watson Senior Business Reporter
SCOTTISH routes operated by Dutch national airline KLM are under threat following an announcement by the carrier that it was to make further cutbacks in its services, in the wake of the 11 September terrorist attacks on the US.
The airline’s routes from Amsterdam to Edinburgh, Glasgow and Aberdeen are in
jeopardy after KLM said it was to slash passenger capacity by an additional 10 per cent and axe up to 2,500 jobs. The cutbacks come on top of a 5 per cent reduction in services previously announced.
The news coincided with a warning from airport operator BAA that the terrorist attacks on the US might lead to a 20 per cent dip in its profits in the current financial year.
But the company, whose seven UK airports includes Edinburgh, Glasgow and Aberdeen, backtracked on comments made by its chief executive Mike Hodkinson on Wednesday that such a fall was inevitable.
A spokesman rebutted suggestions that Hodkinson’s remarks were inadvisable given the perilous state of the aviation industry. He said: "It is far too soon to know how things will work out. We have been careful not to make any forecast."
A spokesman for KLM UK, which employs 160 staff in Scotland, said no decision had been taken regarding the future of its Scottish operations.
The carrier estimated the attacks resulted in a loss in September of £31 million.
It is also seeking to put 12,000 employees, almost half its workforce, on short time and ask others to take a "substantial" pay cut.
The airline added that its management and supervisory board members would take pay cuts of 15 per cent.
KLM’s continued presence in Scotland has come under threat from the challenge posed by low-cost airline easyJet. The no-frills carrier flies to Amsterdam from Edinburgh, Glasgow and Aberdeen and is understood to be keen to increase the frequency of its service on those routes.
Despite a 6 per cent dip in passenger numbers in September, Scottish airports have held up well, thanks to the success of low-cost carriers.
Traffic at Edinburgh rose 13.4 per cent, with international travel up 32 per cent. Traffic at Glasgow was up 6.9 per cent, while numbers in Aberdeen edged up by 0.5 per cent.
Meanwhile Ireland’s national carrier Aer Lingus joined the ranks of airlines who have admitted to facing an uncertain future following the attacks.
Aer Lingus said transatlantic traffic had slumped by 80 per cent, with activity on UK and European routes down 30 per cent.
Public enterprise minister Mary O’Rourke told the Irish Parliament the airline faced a "very grave financial situation".