AF-KLM must 'do much more' to reduce its costs - CEO

PARIS (Reuters) - Air France-KLM <AIRF.PA> must "do much more" to reduce its costs due to the COVID-19 induced crisis in the airline sector, chief executive Ben Smith said in an interview published on Monday by French paper L'Opinion.

"We knew, before the pandemic, that we had to transform the group to make it stronger. The plan we announced in November 2019 is still relevant but the crisis forces us to accelerate", he said.

"We must do much more to reduce our costs", Smith added.

(Reporting by Sarah White; Writing by Benoit Van Overstraeten; Editing by Catherine Evans)