Air France-KLM Group, Europe's biggest airline, said passenger traffic rose 7.5 percent in March on increased travel to European and Asian destinations.

 

The load factor, or proportion of seats filled, increased 2.8 percentage points to 82.3 percent, while the airline offered 3.8 percent more seating capacity, Paris-based Air France-KLM said. The number of passengers increased 7.4 percent to 6.3 million.

 

Chief Executive Officer Jean-Cyril Spinetta, who led Air France's purchase of KLM in 2004, has used higher fares and oil surcharges to boost earnings.

 

Dual bases in Paris and Amsterdam have helped the airline attract travelers for connecting flights, said Bloomberg News. Fiscal third-quarter profit tripled and the airline in February forecast "very strong results" for the year ended March 31.

 

Air France raised its fuel surcharge for intercontinental routes on March 22 by four euros to 48 euros (US$64.21) a flight and KLM increased the fee by five euros to 55 euros after the price of oil exceeded US$60 a barrel for 30 days. Charges on medium-haul flights rose by one euro to 22 euros at KLM.

 

Traffic, or the number of passengers multiplied by the distance flown, rose 8.3 percent on Asian flights. The load factor in the region increased 2.9 percentage points to 87.9 percent.

 

European traffic increased 8.9 percent and capacity rose 5.9 percent, raising the load factor by 1.9 percentage points to 68.9 percent.

 

African and Middle Eastern traffic rose 5.9 percent, with capacity falling 1.3 percent and the load factor gaining 5.4 percentage points to 79.7 percent, Air France said.

 

(Shanghai Daily April 10, 2007)