Late 2017 surge helps lift traffic figures for Air France-KLM

Air France-KLM (AF-KLM) can breathe a sigh of relief, thanks to a long-awaited turnaround in the carrier’s freight traffic, which increased 3.3 percent, year-over-year, in the fourth quarter of 2017 – a modest increase by industry standards, but a significant shift for the company after years of declining traffic volume.

While the carrier’s 3.3 percent, y-o-y, increase in revenue tonne kilometers (RTK) in Q4 and 1.8 percent rise for the year is positive news for the company on the whole, its competitors in the European market averaged at 8.5 percent total yearly growth in RTKs last year.

AF-KLM’s consolidated net income indicated that there is more to the story, dropping from €529 million to €288 million from 2016 to 2017. The drastic decline in net income, however, was mainly due to increases in the carrier’s pension plans, according to the carrier.

Last year, the carrier also made the decision to no longer separate its financial statement figures between passenger and freight, so there is no way of knowing specifically how cargo performed from 2016 to 2017.

However, according to Air France-KLM, the increase in traffic volume is due to a growth in demand for flights to and from Asia in the first half of 2017, followed by increased demand from Latin America in the second half of the year.

The carrier detailed changes made to its freighter fleet in the last couple of years, indicating that in 2016 it “retired KLM’s last MD-11 freighters, along with Air France’s remaining 747-400s,” and took delivery of Air France’s first 787-9. That same year, Air France “reinforced its fleet of 787-9s,” bringing the total number to eight aircraft at the end of 2016. Meanwhile, KLM Cityhopper began retiring its Fokker 70s with the introduction of four Embraer 175s.