February 8, 2010
Passenger traffic at Air France-KLM fell 1.6 percent in January but there were fewer spare seats as reductions in capacity continued to cut deeper than the fall in bookings, the Franco-Dutch airline group said on Monday.
It also became the latest airline to report an upward flicker in cargo volumes after a prolonged slump in the air freight sector, which closely mirrors trends in the economy.
The passenger load factor improved by 1.4 percentage points to 78.0 percent as Air France-KLM held capacity down 3.4 percent, the group said.
Traffic fell 0.5 percent on Americas and Asian networks.
“Despite an improvement in long-haul, unit revenue per available seat kilometre (RASK) remained below last year’s level,” the airline, formed from a 2004 merger of French and Dutch flag carriers, said in a statement.
Cargo saw a 2 percent increase in traffic on 11.4 percent lower capacity, lifting the load factor by 8.5 percentage points to 64.3 percent.
Air France-KLM is expected on Wednesday to announce losses in its fiscal third quarter results, covering October to December 2009. Passenger traffic fell over 4 percent in the period.
A gradual recovery in air travel and freight demand, as capacity cuts remain in place, is offsetting a rise in fuel prices which markets now expect to moderate, the International Air Transport Association said last week.
British Airways reported January traffic down 7 percent compared with a 8.3 percent drop in the number of seats, lifting its load factor 1 percentage point.
Lufthansa will announce January data on Tuesday.
(Reuters)
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.