Air France-KLM to partner with Etihad? - If you can’t beat them, join them

Enfin, si vous ne pouvez pas les battre, joignez-les …. After adopting one of the most aggressive stances against the Gulf carriers, Air France-KLM is to conclude an apparently substantial codeshare agreement with Etihad, according to a news report from Le Figaro yesterday.

It seems that Air France, now under a new CEO, Alexander Juniac, may have had a change of heart. Just over a year ago, Jean-Cyril Spinetta, CEO of the combined Air France-KLM group, told the newspaper: "The Gulf companies are killing our industry."

And Pierre-Henri Gourgeon, Air France's former DG strenuously maintained to anyone who would listen that the Gulf carriers were indulging in unfair competition, being (unlike Air France) subsidised by their governments. Shortly before he left Air France, M. Gourgeon told Bloomberg, in Oct-2011, that Europe is "at the crossroads of international air travel, and this is a role we need to value and defend."