Air France pilots vote to replace union leadership

Air France’s main pilots’ union elected a new leader to represent it in negotiations with the carrier, ushering in the possibility of a less hostile approach to relations with management. Guillaume Gestas will replace Philippe Evain as president of SNPL’s Air France branch, the union said Thursday following a vote by members. Jean-Michel Julien and Guillaume Schmid will serve as VPs. Evain led pilots through a series of damaging strikes over pay that cost Air France-KLM hundreds of millions of euros this year. With fresh blood at the helm of both the union and the airline there is early optimism in some quarters that relations between the two sides could start to thaw. “Lots of pilots are unhappy with the stance the union has been taking. It has been a combative relationship for a long time,” a consultant said. <br/>