New airline combine sees traffic surge

Published on Wednesday 12 May 2004 01:00

AIR France-KLM passenger traffic surged nearly 20 per cent last month, boosted by a strong performance in long-haul routes, the airline said as it reported its first figures as a merged group.

The Franco-Dutch airline, which began trading as a single entity early this month, said combined traffic for April rose 19.5 per cent compared with the combined figures for the period last year.

Combined capacity was up 10.7 per cent. The airline’s load factor, the share of available seats sold, was 79.5 per cent, up 5.8 points from April 2003. In Asia, both the Air France and KLM networks recorded an improvement in last year’s traffic figures when passenger numbers fell because of fears over the SARS virus.