FEATURE: Christine Ourmières (July 2)

Christine Ourmières leaves her post as general manager for Air France KLM in the UK and Ireland at the end of next week. She talks to ABTN about her four hectic years in London

Christine Ourmières

When Christine Ourmières arrived in London in September 2005 as Air France's new general manager for the UK and Ireland, it marked a significant step in her career, a promotion to oversee one of the busiest and most competitive markets the airline had.

She had joined Air France in 1988 in the maintenance and IT department before moving to travel IT company Amadeus as its vp sales and marketing for France. Ms Ourmières returned to AF in 2002 in charge of agreements with multi-national companies. 

It has turned out that Ms Ourmières held her new London-based post during four of the most momentous years in the airline's development. Her watch included the merger in the UK of Air France and KLM, the final stages of the move to zero commissions for travel agents, the acceleration of AF KLM's co-operation with Delta Air Lines, the US-EU Open Skies agreement, the expansion of AF's operation at London City Airport and last, as she was packing her bags for her new job in New York, the opening of the first SkyTeam lounge at London Heathrow.

 "I have enjoyed every minute.  It has been such a pleasure to work in the UK and Irish market," she said. I think it is a very competitive market and while the first three years were good, the last one has been really tough for the industry. Prices are low and you have to be prepared to do anything."

One of the main tasks facing Ms Ourmières, who has a master degree in aeronautics and an MBA from Essec business school, was merging the separate staffs of AF and KLM in the UK and Ireland. She described it as a "huge operation."

It meant a move out of AF's offices in Hammersmith, West London further west to a new headquarters near Heathrow. This was accomplished by 2007 and Ms Ourmières became general manager in the UK/Ireland for AF KLM, in charge of operation at 22 airports throughout the two countries.

Then came the challenge of the Open Skies agreement which came into force at the end of March 2008. Air France KLM, with for the first time the freedom to fly from Heathrow to the States, started a London-Los Angeles service. While it lasted just a few months to November, Ms Ourmières said: "There was the advantage of learning about the Atlantic market from the UK which is very different from other points." It will stand her is good stead for her new post in New York.

At the same time AF, through a partner airline, was expanding its operation at London City, a small airport but one convenient to and popular with City-based business travellers. During her tenure in London, she has seen the number of daily direct flights rise to 40 and the number of destinations served increase to 10. AF also bought the small scheduled Dutch carrier VLM which is now being integrated into its operation.

But the biggest and perhaps, in the long term, the most significant development was the growing integration between AF and Delta Air Lines, its SkyTeam partner. The two signed first signed an agreement to co-operate on transatlantic flights in 2007. Two months ago in Paris, AF KLM  signed a global deal with Delta and Northwest Airlines - now being take over by Delta - to co-operate closely on services around the world, including a single transatlantic joint venture.

Her new job in New York as AF KLM's vp and general manager in the US will very much focus on this joint venture. "We have been working on this joint venture for two years and it is going to be an interesting challenge. It is a very good move for us because you can face all the competition through a joint approach," she said.

SkyTeam lounge, London Heathrow

Despite the comments earlier this week from the US Department of Justice that blanket anti-trust immunity for members of the Star Alliance - a rival to AF's SkyTeam group - would not benefit consumers, Ms Ourmières was not fearful for the joint venture's future.

 "We have already received full anti-trust immunity. A lot of work has to be done to get this. We are seeing some colleagues in the industry struggle but it is quite a complex issue. We are very happy to have our anti-trust immunity and we hope our colleagues get theirs. But for us it is a competitive situation and we want to provide a joint venture service to our customers," she said.

If she is confident of the success of the joint venture, she is less certain about any short term improvement in the airline industry's current dire plight. "I don't see any change in the near future. We analyse our fares weekly and there is no change as far as bookings are concerned.

"You have to stay strong and have competitive prices. Fares have dropped considerably. Where is the industry going? It is difficult to say. You have to keep a balance as much as possible but with no whacky solutions.

Looking back, Ms Ourmières said that the highlight of the four years was the merging of the AF and KLM staff in the UK and Ireland.  "We had to create one team form two different cultures. It was merging these two teams, keeping the two different brands but creating one stronger team," she said.

"It has all been a pleasure, a fantastic opportunity because of all the projects there were to work on. But I never really got the opportunity to improve my golf and I am not sure I shall be able to do that in the US either."