Air France-KLM significantly reduced its losses in the third quarter thanks to a "
good summer season
" and will continue to increase its capacity to meet "
strong demand
" to reopened countries, the airline group announced on Friday.
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The company ended the July-September period with a net loss of 192 million euros, which marks a significant improvement over the 1.5 billion lost in each of the previous two quarters.
It especially found, as promised, a positive operating result, at 132 million euros.
The number of passengers climbs to 111%
This is largely due to the “
strong performance
” of the group's low-cost company, Transavia, which took advantage of its customers' appetite for sunny destinations on the Old Continent (Spain, Portugal, Greece) last summer, as many countries with access facilitated by the European health certificate. After a start to the year hampered by travel restrictions, the company with white and green planes saw its number of passengers explode by 111% over one year in the third quarter, "
with activity levels back to around 85%
" of the pre-crisis.
The whole group, which suffers from the closure of many countries served before the epidemic by the major long-haul networks of Air France and KLM, has however regained on average only 66% of its capacity in the third quarter. 2019. The company transported 16.94 million people during the period, almost doubling over one year, but still far from the 29.1 million in the third quarter of 2019, the last summer before the pandemic. The effect of this crisis is also evident on turnover, which reached 4.56 billion euros from July to September, an increase of 89% over one year, but which only brought it back to 58% of the 2019 level. The group's general manager, Benjamin Smith, was nevertheless delighted with a “
good summer season
”.
Read also Is the low cost Transavia really cheaper than Air France?
The return to operating profit "
encourages us to continue our efforts
", he added, quoted in a press release, while Air France-KLM is committed to an all-out savings plan which results in thousands of voluntary departures. However, he warned that “
the Covid-19 crisis is not yet behind us. Important continents like Asia remain largely closed and business travel is slowly picking up
”. The reopening to foreigners next month of the borders of the United States, the destination to which Air France achieved 40% of its turnover before the crisis, is a factor of optimism, especially since "
we are seeing strong demand
From clients, said CFO Steven Zaat.
Another symbol of the start of recovery after the Covid-19 crisis which has caused it to lose more than 10 billion euros for a year and a half, the Franco-Dutch company will repay 500 million of its loan guaranteed by the French State, out of 4 billion in total, "
in the coming weeks
", according to Steven Zaat.
