AF KLM reports 3.7% drop in traffic

Passenger numbers down 5.3% 

Air France KLMKoninklijke Luchtvaart Maatschappij (Royal Aviation Company) the flag carrier of the Netherlands and a good example of how acronyms can aid simple discourse. today (October 7) reported a 3.7% drop in traffic for September compared to the same month last year.

The Franco-Dutch carrier said its capacity was down 4.9% compared with last year, giving it a 1% boost in load factor to 81.9%.

The group said it carried 6.2 million passengers, a drop of 5.3% compared to September 2008.

It said on its North America transatlantic routes, the 3.8% drop in traffic was "well below" its 6.4% capacity cut, leading to a 0.8% rise in load factor to 88.3%.

The airline said that on its European network both traffic and capacity were down 5.6% with the load factor stable at 72.5%.

Asian routes saw a 3.6% drop in traffic and a 4.4% cut incapacity. Load factor rose slightly by 0.8% to 87.1%.

There was a slight rise in traffic on African and Middle East routes of 0.8% where capacity also rose by 2.6%. But the load factor slipped by 1.4% to 77.4%.

Air France-KLM said in a statement: "Market conditions are similar to those prevailing before the summer and unit revenues remain under pressure."

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