Air-France-KLM saw a rise in profits during the second quarter of 2023, earning around €604 million, or about €280 million more than in the same time frame in 2022, according to numbers released by the company at the end of July. The concern took in around €7.6 billion in revenue during the recent quarter, or about 14 percent more than in the same period last year. The good news came just in time: Air-France-KLM was in the red during the first quarter of 2023.
The KLM group’s revenue grew by close to 12 percent, reaching around €3.1 billion during the second quarter of 2023. Over the first six months of this year, the organization’s revenue reached €5.6 billion, an increase of about 20 percent over the same period in 2022. The group actually earned slightly less than expected, partly due to high costs associated with wages and supply chain issues. Fleet problems also put a dent in the company’s second-quarter earnings.
Transavia, a budget airline owned by KLM and part of the Air-France KLM group, saw its revenue rise during the second quarter of 2023, in part thanks to higher bookings. But the carrier essentially broke even due to a swath of aircraft maintenance issues that led to many canceled flights. The Air France Group posted €8.5 billion in revenue for the first two quarters, a jump of 27 percent over the numbers for the same period in 2022.
Air-France-KLM’s freight divisions, on the other hand, haven’t been doing well for the past six months, as demand has fallen due to low sea freight rates. During the second quarter of 2023, cargo revenue only reached €606 million – down approximately 34 percent from the same period in 2022. Its cargo operations collected over €1.2 billion in revenue during the first six months of 2023, a sharp decrease from the first two quarters of 2022.
Air-France-KLM’s increased profits are likely linked to lower gasoline prices and consumer willingness to pay more for tickets, along with flights booked close to capacity and high ticket demand. Flights during the second quarter were often about 87 percent full.
Air-France-KLM carriers combined were responsible for transporting around 24.7 million passengers in the second quarter of 2023 alone – about 44.3 million people traveled on the group’s various airlines in the first six months of the year. Long-distance flights to and from North America were particularly popular. More than 20.2 million passengers opted for Air France flights during the first half of 2023, quite an increase from the 17.4 million travelers who booked with the French flagship during the first half of last year. Around 10.8 million people flew Air France during the second quarter of 2023.
KLM was responsible for getting around 7.9 million people to their destinations during April, May and June of 2023, up from 7.2 million passengers during the second quarter of 2022. The airline welcomed 14.2 million passengers on board between January and the end of June this year, an increase of around 18 percent from the first six months of 2022.
Around 5.9 million passengers flew Transavia during the second quarter of 2023, about 13 percent more than the 5.2 million who traveled with the carrier in the second quarter of 2022. The budget airline hosted more than 9.7 million fliers in the first half of this year, an increase of about 25 percent over 2022’s first and second-quarter numbers.
In spite of the positive results, KLM still hasn’t completely recovered from the slowdown associated with the Covid pandemic. The company is still flying about 12 percent fewer flights than in 2019 and is struggling with staffing issues and fleet difficulties. The carrier has plans to implement productivity-maximizing and cost-cutting measures to stay competitive in the coming years. Getting back to pre-Covid performance levels may take until 2024, but things are looking up: Transavia flights for the next few months are already in serious demand.
Written by Lorre Luther