There was only a brief hope for improvement in Paris in 2018, when the most efficient traditional airline Delta Airlines from the USA and China Eastern from Shanghai took over a larger share of the shares. But the partner lines also had little interest in efficiency or even more dividends. “Everyone wanted the same thing that the states and employee shareholders wanted: a large flight operation with as many connections as possible,” said analyst Irvin. This brought more jobs to governments and employees and strengthened the location. The airline partner was able to offer its customers more flights without having to pay for it.
The turning point came in an unexpected form in 2018. Because of the many problems and incidents, such as the extensive stoppage of the group’s low-cost airline Transavia or physical attacks on board members, all domestic candidates for the top post had canceled, the determining state shareholders raised former Air Canada manager Ben Smith to the top of the group. It seemed like an emergency appointment, not least because the native Briton with ancestors from Hong Kong and Australia was the opposite of the French business elite in almost everything. The now 50-year-old was unmarried, had not attended the elite schools that are common among top managers and spoke no French. He didn’t have many contacts either inside or outside the company. That’s why bizarre stories circulated regarding him, for example regarding his almost maniacally meticulous hand hygiene. “Ben might just manage airlines, but he was pretty good at it,” says someone who knows him from Canada.
Also read our analysis of the future of low-cost airlines: Doomed to grow: These charts show what’s really behind the expansion of low-cost airlines
