Air France-KLM and China Eastern expand cooperation and strengthen joint venture

• MRO (Maintenance, Repair & Overhaul) Cooperation: China Eastern Airlines selects AFI KLM E & M for equipment support for its Boeing 787s;
• An extended joint venture starting in 2019 with a greater choice of destinations thanks to two additional codesharing routes: Paris - Wuhan and Paris - Kunming

Air France-KLM and China Eastern Airlines have taken another step in expanding their cooperation and extending their joint venture.

Agreements on the MRO activity

AFI KLM E & M - the Air France KLM-MRO branch and China Eastern Airlines have signed a new agreement on the equipment support of the Boeing 787-9 fleet of the Chinese company, which could eventually reach 15 aircraft. The agreement covers repair services, access to a regional spare parts center, the provision of a local stock of spare parts and other services in the field of training and support for industrial development.

In this context, AFI KLM E & M plans to develop a spare parts center for Boeing 787 in Shanghai, to meet the needs of China Eastern Airlines and other future customers.

Pieter Elbers, Deputy General Manager of Air France-KLM Group and Chief Executive Officer of KLM, commented: "With the signing of this maintenance agreement, we are expanding our partnership with China Eastern and moving towards a more global collaboration. This agreement underscores China Eastern's confidence in our industrial capabilities and our common profits."

Feng Liang, Vice President of China Eastern Airlines, in charge of the MRO business, said: "AFI KLM E & M is a world-renowned leader in Boeing 787 equipment support. This is, we are convinced, a reliable partner, able to adapt to our needs, in particular by setting up a spare parts center in China to offer us a reactive support. We are pleased to be able to count on its long-term expertise, including the crucial moment of the first operations of our Boeing 787-9 aircraft."

An extended joint venture

In addition, Air France-KLM and China Eastern Airlines also announced today their intention to extend their joint venture partnership from 2019.

As part of this expanded agreement, the three companies of the SkyTeam alliance (Air France, KLM and China Eastern Airlines) plan to cooperate on two additional routes, Paris - Wuhan and Paris - Kunming, including through reciprocal code sharing. By extending the scope of their joint venture , Air France-KLM and China Eastern will offer a wider choice of destinations, beyond the partners' bases, and will allow customers traveling between Europe and China to benefit from more travel options.

"We are very pleased that our common ambition plans to strengthen in 2019 with cooperation covering a wider area. We are building strong, long-term cooperation between our two groups, offering an even greater choice to our customers traveling between Europe and China. By strengthening the joint venture, our Group is pursuing its strategy in Asia, focused on partnership. Said Patrick Alexandre, Deputy General Manager Commercial Sales and Alliances of Air France-KLM.

"The cooperation between the two sides has been continuously deepened and significant progress has been made since the conclusion of the joint venture agreement between China Eastern Airlines and Air France-KLM. The signing of this agreement is the beginning of cooperation for the next five years and should be remembered as a historic moment. I am convinced that the partnership between the two major players in the transportation industry that we are will offer our customers more ways to travel and further enrich the customer experience. In addition, the partnership between China Eastern Airlines and Air France-KLM can clearly become a model of cooperation in the airline industry," said Liu Shaoyong, Chairman of China Eastern Airlines Co., Ltd.

Air France-KLM and China Eastern, a strong and lasting relationship

Air France and China Eastern began their collaboration in 2000 in the form of code sharing on the Paris - Shanghai route. The partnership was consolidated in 2012 through a joint venture agreement. KLM joined this joint venture in 2016, extending the agreement to the Amsterdam - Shanghai route.

Since October 2017, China Eastern holds 8.8% of the capital of Air France-KLM and has a director on the Board of Directors of Air France-KLM.