The impact of new travel restrictions from September weighed on the Group's results Air France-KLM in the third quarter. The two airlines announced revenues down by 67% (€2,524 million) and passenger numbers down by almost 70% (8.8 million). These figures include the activity of Transavia.
All in all, the Air France-KLM group will have lost €1.05 billion in the third quarter. This represents a drop of -1.95 billion euros on last year. LUnit revenues fell by 44.5 % This was mainly due to lower load factors on long-haul routes.
According to Benjamin Smith, the Group's Chief Executive Officer, "after a promising recovery in the summer, we are delighted to be back on track, the gradual closure of international borders in the second half of August and the resurgence of the pandemic weighed heavily on our third-quarter results. We have accelerated the implementation of measures to reduce costs and preserve our cash position. We are also working on various measures such as rapid detection tests. These will enable us to restore traffic under the best possible health conditions for our customers and employees".
French containment will weigh on the 4th quarter
Outlook for the fourth quarter should result in further decline in business with confinements and restrictions once again affecting Europe. The Group sees little visibility on the recovery, as passenger behaviour varies in the very short term, depending on the travel restrictions imposed.
Air France-KLM has also indicated that the confinement period since 30 October in France is a new difficulty. The Group now expects available seat-kilometre capacity to represent 45% of 2019 capacity for KLM. For Air France, it was less than 35% in the fourth quarter 202.0. The absence of long-haul traffic and the delayed recovery in business traffic will continue to depress individual revenues.
Benjamin Smith, however, is determined to remain optimistic. In the Group's press release, the CEO stresses that "we are engaged in a profound transformation of our Group with the aim of emerging from this crisis in a stronger position, ready to
to meet the future challenges facing our industry. If air transport continues to connect people and cultures, we anticipate changes in customer expectations. "
