Air France-KLM has become the latest major European airline group to see a recovery in corporate travel during the third quarter of the year.
The group said it had seen “solid corporate traffic recovery” for the quarter from July to September, as it announced an operating of profit of €1 billion with revenue rising to €8.1 billion, which was €503 million higher than in 2019, thanks to increased margins.
Air France-KLM also credited the “strong performance” of its premium cabins for the recovery this summer, despite group capacity still being around 11 per cent lower than three years ago.
The recovery in business travel reflects similar statements last week by both IAG, owner of British Airways and Iberia, and the Lufthansa Group.
Benjamin Smith, Air France-KLM’s group CEO, said the company had been able to “make the most of the strong travel demand this quarter”. This was despite KLM being forced to reduce flights from its Amsterdam base due to the airport’s ongoing capacity cap.
“While the situation remains unsatisfactory in some key airports – notably impacting KLM at its Amsterdam Schiphol hub – we saw significant improvements following the operational challenges that had erupted earlier this year,” added Smith.
“The group posted a strong operating result in spite of rising fuel costs and inflation, and the group remains confident in its ability to further increase capacity during the winter season.”
The company added that while there had been “some isolated disruptions” in Paris this summer, operations in France had generally proved to be “more robust” than in other European countries this year.
“Air France and KLM did their utmost to mitigate these challenges and continue to prioritise safeguarding the trust of their customers,” added the airline group in a statement. “For the third quarter, these disruptions resulted in €60 million additional compensation costs compared to the same quarter in 2019.”
Source: Business Travel News Europe
