The Franco-Dutch airline operator Air France is laying off around 500 employees, citing an intensifying competitive situation in its home market. However, it's not just airline competition from low-cost carriers that's causing declining margins. Above all, competition comes from high-speed trains.

”In the last five years, Air France's domestic market has been strongly affected by competition from high-speed rail routes, which have expanded their capacity in the country with reduced journey times,” Air France writes.

On such routes from Paris with a travel time of a maximum of two hours, the company expects to have lost 90 percent of the market next year.

Source: Nyhetsbyrån Direkt