Air France-KLM January Traffic Falls
February 9, 2009
Air France-KLM reported a 1.9 percent drop in passenger traffic in January, led by falls in Europe driven by bad weather, and a drop of more than 20 percent in underlying cargo traffic for the second month running.
Europe's largest airline said on Monday a "deterioration in the operating environment weighed on activity" despite the removal of seats from the market. The economic crisis continued to hit business traffic, driving down unit revenues.
The passenger load factor fell 0.5 percentage points to 76.6 percent after the traffic drop was only partially offset by a 1.2 percent cut in capacity.
In Europe, where snow led to the temporary closure of some airports, traffic fell 7.9 percent with capacity down 6.7 percent. Asia traffic fell 3.9 percent while traffic on American routes grew 1.9 percent.
In cargo, which has been hit by a slump in trade due to the economic crisis, underlying traffic fell by 23.3 percent and capacity was reduced by 10.4 percent in January.
The resulting load factor dropped 9 points to 53.5 percent.
Including cargo activities of Martinair, consolidated from January 1, cargo traffic fell 1.2 percent with capacity up by 10.9 percent and a load factor of 55.6 percent.
Cargo traffic had fallen 20.4 percent in December.
The head of airports body ACI Europe on Friday said 2009 would be an "annus horribilis" after passenger traffic dropped 7.7 percent year-on-year in December and freight plunged more than 21 percent.
The organization is particularly worried about freight traffic, which fell 21.4 percent year-on-year in December and is seen as an indicator of the strength of international trade.
As a barometer of the way the economy is affecting aviation, cargo data could point to further declines in passenger traffic in coming months, the official said.
Analysts have said the slump in cargo traffic could dominate Air France-KLM's third-quarter earnings due on Friday.
In a profit warning in January, Air France-KLM said it would post an October-December operating loss of some EUR200 million.
It said it still expected an operating profit for the full year ending March 31, but that the level would depend on how the economy treated its activities, notably the cargo business.
The Franco-Dutch group withdrew detailed full-year forecasts in November after warning in October that it would miss its 2008-09 operating profit goal of EUR1 billion.
Announcing a reduced nine-month loss on Friday, British Airways said it did not expect the economic backdrop to improve for airlines for 24 months.
