Europe's leading airline Air France-KLM announced on Thursday its plan to lay off 5,122 employees out of 49,301 staff of Air France by 2013, but not in a compulsory way.

With the aim to cut the group's 2-billion-euro net debt (2.53 billion U.S. dollars) and boost profitability, the Franco-Dutch firm estimated 1,712 not replaced natural departures over the period with the residual number of excess staff expected at 3,410 posts at the end of 2013, it said in a statement posted on its website.

"If the agreements are signed, the accompanying measures to reduce staff numbers will exclude the use of forced departures before the end of 2013," the group noted.

Facing a challenging business climate, Air France-KLM wants to restore competitiveness through cost-cutting, restructuring the short- and medium-haul operations as well as debt reduction.

"By the end of 2014, the company aims to increase economic efficiency by 20 percent by limiting changes to the payroll and by increasing the efficiency of time worked, by not replacing staff who leave and by improving processes," the company said. (1 euro = 1.267 U.S dollar)

VietNamNet/Xinhuanet