Load factor down despite capacity cuts
Air France KLM has reported a sharp decline in passenger traffic over March of 9.4% year-on-year as industry demand continued its downward trend.
Load factors were also down from 81.0% last year to 75.5%, despite a capacity cut of almost 3%.
AF KLM said traffic had fallen across the entire network, accompanied by a "significant deterioration in unit revenues."
The total number of passengers carried last month also fell sharply by 9.8% to 5.6 million. However March numbers were up compared to the 4.9 million carried in February.
A spokesman for AF KLM was unable to confirm whether its premium traffic had suffered, unlike British Airways which this week blamed falling revenues on a 13% fall in business travel.
The spokesman said general market deterioration had affected AF KLM's activities last month, but could not comment further.
Traffic on AF KLM's Caribbean and Indian Ocean network was the worst hit by a drop of 16.9%, due in part to strike action in the French Antilles.
AF KLM said conditions in Europe remained "tough" with traffic down 9.8%, in line with the global average. Capacity was cut by 1.0%, resulting in a load factor of 62.9% down from 69.0% last year.
Loads on the airline's Asia Pacific network were highest at 82.7%, despite a cut in capacity of 6.4%.
Passenger activity saw declines in all metrics and regions. However AF KLM's cargo operations saw some growth.
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