Traveling

Wednesday, October 31, 2018

Google's Booking Facelift + Air France-KLM Gets Tighter + Hyatt's Buying Strategy

November 1, 2018

Editor's Note

Did Ben Smith just make an already formidable challenge that much harder? On his first earnings call on Wednesday as the new CEO of Air France-KLM, Smith called for pushing the company's distinct cultures and operations closer together. Air France and KLM joined forces 14 years ago, enough time for the separate airlines to settle into their own silos under the corporate umbrella. But Smith wants his new company to behave as one. Melding cultures in a merged company is a tall task in year one and two. At year 14, who knows what the playbook is for that? Smith gets high grades within the industry — and he may be willing to suffer some pain making over Air France-KLM into the company he thinks will deliver the best results. Or he may just end up regretting what he wished for.

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