PARIS (Reuters) – Groupe ADP, which manages three of Paris’ main airports, pushed back on Monday against accusations by the head of Air France-KLM that other airlines received better treatment at its Charles De Gaulle Airport hub.
ADP said in a statement that the activity of other airlines, many of which operate only a few daily flights, was not comparable to that of Air France-KLM.
In an interview with Le Parisien newspaper published on Monday, Air France-KLM CEO Benjamin Smith said: “We are treated worse than foreign companies, even though the state is the majority shareholder of ADP!”
He said that while foreign airlines were able to disembark and embark directly to and from the airport buildings 100% of the time, Air France-KLM’s terminal had that capacity only 85-90% of the time.
ADP said it was surprised by Smith’s comments, adding that it was working with the airline to meet the competitiveness challenges of the hub and allow airplanes at the terminal to disembark and embark directly nearly all the time.
(Reporting by Makini Brice; Editing by Dominique Vidalon and Kirsten Donovan)
