Employees Swarm Air France Headquarters

“If it is interrupted by unacceptable violence, this has consequences for the country’s attractiveness”, Hollande said.

“Facing the impossibility of reaching an agreement to implement the productivity measures within Air France in order to restore long-term profitability, the board members consider it essential to introduce an alternative plan”, the Air France-KLM board had said in a statement. Alain Vidalies, the French transport minister, stated that the images of the battered executives amounted to a caricature of France that was unhelpful to the airline’s image and future. “He’s done us a lot of harm since his arrival and he’s brought us nothing” said Air France employee Kourou Melbassen.

Deputy human resources director Xavier Broseta, one of the executives attacked by protesters, told reporters later that he had received messages of sympathy from colleagues throughout the day, including from union leaders.

Hundreds of angry Air France workers stormed a meeting at the company’s headquarters near Paris on Monday to protest plans to slash thousands of jobs as part of a vast cost-cutting programme, with the confrontation rapidly turning violent.

The BBC reports that Air France-KLM, the parent company to Air France, said it would take action against the employees who committed the “aggregated violence” against the executives.

During the last weeks, negotiations between Air France Management and flight crew unions to achieve the Perform 2020 Plan have been at a standstill.

The planned job cuts, which include 300 pilots, 700 flight attendants and 1,900 ground personnel, according to unions, come after the company has shed more than 6,000 jobs in recent years. An Air France spokeswoman declined to comment.

The airline’s human resources and labour relations chief Xavier Broseta was left topless and with his tie hanging from his neck as he battled through crowds of workers, a few of whom shouted “clothes off”. Company president, Frédéric Gagey, managed to escape unharmed.

HR chief Broseta said on Europe 1 radio that he was “personally shocked and disappointed” by his ordeal, though didn’t blame the workforce as a whole, and that a return to labor talks was still “possible”.

Air France is looking to boost its competitive edge against its main European rivals, Lufthansa and British Airways-Iberia.