AccorHotels drops plan to buy minority stake in Air France-KLM

AccorHotels, Europe's largest hotelier, said it had abandoned plans to buy a minority stake in Air France-KLM, which has been hit by boardroom and staff unrest. While some investors said they saw sense in a tie-up between AccorHotels and Air France-KLM, notably through cooperation on loyalty programmes, others had questioned why Accor would need to buy a stake in the troubled airline. The airline has been hunting for a new boss to fill a gap left by the abrupt departure of CE Jean-Marc Janaillac in May, after staff rejected a pay proposal aimed at ending strikes that have resulted in heavy losses. Anne-Marie Couderc, the interim chairman of Air France-KLM, had also blamed AccorHotels for complicating and delaying the airline's search for a new CE. Last month, AccorHotels said it was looking at taking a minority stake in Air France-KLM to help it compete better against travel packages offered by online rivals such as Expedia and Booking.com. However, it said it had since decided to abandon that plan.<br/>