Cargo revenue dropped 41.5 per cent to €544 million due to a decline in volumes of 22.7 per cent, a 17.2 per cent cut in capacity and a 25.1 per cent fall in yields. Sales in the carrier’s passenger business fell 18.7 per cent to €4.01 billion on the back of a 4.7 per cent reduction in capacity, a 5.8 per cent drop in traffic and a 14.5 per cent decline in yields, the carrier said.
“We maintain our assumption of a more limited deterioration in the second quarter and stability in the last two quarters, with even a slight improvement at the end of the year compared with the second half 2008-09, itself already impacted by the crisis,†Air France-KLM said.
Meanwhile, the head of Air France- KLM said last week that Europe’s biggest airline is considering part-time jobs or temporary layoffs to combat the “brutal†situation in cargo and passenger demand.
“Air France-KLM must remain competitive. I haven’t excluded temporary lay-offs. We will watch very closely. These measures should allow us to avoid affecting employment,†he said.
“We don’t see the slightest bright spot. The reduction in demand in cargo is brutal,†Air France-KLM’s director general Pierre-Henri Gourgeon told the Figaro newspaper adding that the drop is also very high for premium passengers.
But the carrier did note that its freight traffic stabilised in June for the second month running – with traffic down just 0.4 per cent from a year ago – after falling sharply since the final quarter of 2008.
But after stripping out the contribution of its fully-owned subsidiary Martinair, Air France-KLM’s cargo volume fell 17.2 per cent in June.
