Air France makes opening move for KLM
AIR France has opened its offer to buy Dutch airline KLM, in a bid to form the world’s biggest airline.
The French firm will swap 11 Air France shares and ten warrants - rights to buy shares in the future - for every ten shares in KLM. The bid was given the go-ahead by the European Commission in February, and was originally unveiled in September.
The two flag carriers had combined sales in 2002-03 of 19.2 billion (13 billion). Yesterday also brought news for KLM in the shape of fuller aircraft. The airline, whose high number of Asian routes left it heavily damaged by the SARS virus last year, said that heavy promotions in Europe had helped boost its load factor - the measure of seats occupied - up 5.4 points to 82.5 per cent in March.
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Monday 20 February 2012
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