Air France-KLM chief facing sack

The head of Air France-KLM Pierre-Henri Gourgeon will be dismissed Monday, at an extraordinary general meeting of the airline, a source close to the dossier told AFP, confirming a press report. "It's above all an internal problem between Mr Gourgeon and Jean-Cyril Spinetta," the chairman of the board of directors, said the source. The source confirmed a report in the French economic daily Les Echos that Gourgeon was on the way out. Air France declined to comment on the reports, saying only that an extraordinary board meeting would take place Monday at 4:00 pm (1400 GMT). But according to sources close to the affair, Gourgeon will be replaced by Alexandre de Juniac, who ran Christine Lagarde's office when she was French finance minister before her move to head up the IMF. Reports of Gourgeon's impending departure come only a few months after shareholders of the company voted in July to reappoint the 65-year-old as chief executive for another four-year term. Later in July, the group reported a first quarter net loss of 197 million euros ($283 million) and warned that outlook was uncertain for the rest of the year.