Air France-KLM has announced plans to invest €1bn to expand its low-cost leisure airline, Transavia, as part of a new turnaround plan.
Unveiling ‘Perform 2020’ today, it said it wants to take the airline to a more ‘pan-European scale’ and more than double its fleet from 47 to over 100 aircraft by 2017 to and to 115 by 2019.
It expects the move will mean that Transavia France and Transavia Netherlands, which currently fly mainly to leisure destinations in Europe, will contribute an additional €100 million in revenue.
According to an interview with the Financial Times, the expansion will include three new bases outside France and the Netherlands, likely to be two in Portugal and one in Germany.
‘Perform 2020’ takes over from the previous restructuring programme, ‘Transform 2015’, which will expire at the end of the year after achieving more than €1 billion in savings.
"The ambitious initiatives will go hand in hand with redoubled efforts to reduce costs and restructure activities which remain loss-making," said Air France-KLM chief executive Alexandre de Juniac.
