2023-07-28 17:27:40
Air France-KLM
The “Air France-KLM” group announced, Friday, the doubling of its net profit in the second quarter of the year, benefiting from the increased demand for air travel, despite the high rate of inflation, which exacerbated costs.
The Franco-Dutch group recorded a net profit of 604 million euros (662 million dollars) during the first half of this year.
Its sales increased by 13.7 percent, compared to the same period in 2022, to reach 7.6 billion euros, driven by an increase in the number of passengers and higher ticket prices, to achieve a “record” operating margin of 9.6 percent.
The results were achieved even though seat capacity decreased by 8 percent compared to 2019, that is, before the pandemic.
Air France, KLM and Transavia carried a total of 24.7 million passengers between April and June, 11 percent less than the same period four years ago.
Ticket prices have increased since the pandemic, driven by higher fuel costs, increased demand and capacity constraints.
Despite the pressure of rising inflation on consumers, Air France-KLM said it expects the number of bookings for the rest of the year to be at the same level or higher than in 2022.
This includes the current summer holiday season which is extremely important.
The increasing number of passengers is not causing problems as it was last year, when airports faced difficulties in hiring enough staff, while large numbers of passengers lined up at airport security checkpoints with much baggage lost and delayed.
“We are pleased that the operational situation at Schiphol has stabilized” this year, said Air France-KLM CEO Ben Smith.
Meanwhile, inflation affects group costs, which increased by 5.6 percent in the second quarter of the year, compared to just 0.7 percent in the first quarter.
These costs reduced operating profit by around 337 million euros, offsetting gains from lower fuel prices.
However, operating profit almost doubled compared to the second quarter of last year to €733m.
Air France-KLM made a profit last year following losing 11 billion euros during the pandemic, prompting the governments of France and the Netherlands to intervene.
The company’s debt has fallen by 1.4 billion euros since the end of December to 4.9 billion.
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