€709 million excluding one-time items, dragged down by global economic
instability, geopolitical crises and rising oil prices. The aviation group in
2010 achieved a net profit of €289 million. The 2011 operating loss for the
passenger business grew to €375 million following a €58 million operating loss
in 2010. Passenger revenue increased 5.2 percent to €18.8 billion, and traffic
and capacity each rose about 7 percent, but passenger yield and unit revenues
declined 1.6 percent and 1.2 percent, respectively. To regain profitability,
Air France-KLM in January announced a three-year "
transformation plan," including lower capacity growth, reduced fleet investments, wage
freezes and new labor union contracts. This week it stated as other priorities
"increasing the attractiveness of our hubs" and "strengthening
our positions on key markets by deepening our alliances." Meanwhile,
French newspaper
La Tribune this week reported that Air France-KLM intends to
buy Alitalia, the fellow SkyTeam ally in which it
already owns a 25 percent stake.