While the pandemic and the traffic restrictions it has caused have caused it to lose some 11 billion euros in two years, the Franco-Dutch company Air France-KLM saw its activity resume between April and June, with three times as many passengers over one year, and a quarterly turnover multiplied by almost two and a half, to 6.7 billion euros.
The airline even generated for the first time since the summer of 2019, a net profit of 324 million euros in the second quarter.
For the general manager of the group, Benjamin Smith, it is the “dedication” and the “sense of collective responsibility” of the employees who have allowed these results “above expectations”.
82% capacity
Compared to 2019, the last full year before the crisis, the group deployed 82% of its capacity in the second quarter, measured in available seat-kilometres (ASK), one of the sector’s benchmarks.
However, it is revising capacity for the summer and fall a little downwards, expecting a proportion “between 80% and 85% in the third quarter”, or 5 points less than before, and between 85 and 90% in the fourth trimester.
Labor shortage
For the low-cost Transavia, one of the spearheads of its development, this index will remain “above 100” in the second half, reaffirmed the group.
“Despite efforts to anticipate summer growth, since January operational difficulties have emerged in Europe and the United States, mainly due to labor shortages at airports”, he explains in a statement.
The lack of staff at airports, which can lead to flight delays and cancellations, affects many platforms in Europe. For Air France-KLM, the impact is strongest at Amsterdam-Schiphol airport, where KLM is based.
The aviation sector put to the test
Amsterdam-Schiphol announced in mid-June that it would limit the number of travelers this summer and cancel flights to avoid congestion at the airport.
“The strong recovery we are seeing this summer is testing the entire airline industry,” observes Benjamin Smith. “The satisfaction of our customers is at the heart of our priorities and we know that we have not been able to provide the quality of service that is expected of us”, he regrets.
letelegramme Fr Trans