Air France KLM maintained its growth in the first half of 2016, carrying 38.62 million passengers, an increase of 2% compared with the same period in 2015. Capacity - expressed in available seat kilometres (ASK) - remained relatively stable, with an increase of 0.4% from one half-year to the next. The load factor rose by 0.8 points over the same period to 84.6%.
On the other hand, strong competition in the skies, the fall in some currencies against the euro and uncertainties on certain destinations, due in particular to terrorist acts, weighed negatively on revenues. In the first half of 2016, Network Passenger revenues totalled €9,413 million, down 2.6% and down 2.4% on a like-for-like basis. Scheduled passenger revenues fell by a similar proportion. Unit revenue per ASK fell to 6.69 euro cents, compared with 6.90 a year earlier, a decline of 3%.
However, operating income improved significantly, thanks in particular to management and cost savings and to oil prices that remained low. This result for the Passage networks business went from a negative balance of €112 million in the first half of 2015 to €319 million in the first half of 2016. The Group expects the economic environment to remain just as uncertain for the rest of the year in view of the global geopolitical and economic environment, a situation of overcapacity and a foreseeable decline in unit revenue on routes to France.
