Airline KLM Air France saw sales slump 20% in the second quarter of its broken book year and now plans to cut some 1,700 jobs.

Second quarter sales fell to €10.8bn while the company booked a second quarter loss of €147m, as business class passengers failed to show because of the recession and cargo volumes declined.
In a statement on Wednesday evening, CEO Pierre-Henri Gourgeon said: ‘After deep losses in the first quarter, the second was close to break-even despite the lack of recovery in unit revenues and a charge of €179m relating to the pre-2009 fuel hedges.
‘We are stabilising our activity levels, and therefore reducing headcount within the group. We are proposing a voluntary redundancy program at Air France involving 1,700 jobs, which will be effective in 2010,’ he said.
The combined company currently has a workforce of over 110,000 worldwide.