A recruitment freeze at Franco-Dutch carrier Air France-KLM will lead to 2,000 job cuts in 2012 as the carrier looks to save about 800 million euros ($1.04 billion) annually over the next three years, French economic daily La Tribune reported on Wednesday.

The airline, which is 15.7 percent-owned by the French state and 9.8 percent-owned by employees, spends about a third of its revenue on staff, its biggest expense, compared with about a quarter for Lufthansa .

The 2,000 cuts would go alongside more than 4,000 positions that have not been renewed over the last 15 months, the paper said, citing several sources.

It said the hiring freeze plan, which would be across all departments, will be presented to the board of directors on January 11.

($1 = 0.7721 euros)

(Reporting By John Irish)

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