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8 _ Air France-KLM 2010-11 Annual Report
In an environment marked by the economic recovery but also
by numerous crises, Air France-KLM this year returned
to the path of profitable growth. What were the main levers?
Air France-KLM effectively succeeded in engineering a spectacular
recovery: our results were well above the objectives we had set
ourselves with a positive €122 million, i.e. a €1.4 billion improvement
in one year. Our three main businesses made
significant progress. In the passenger business,
the repositioning of our medium-haul offer has been
very successful, while passengers also welcomed
the new Premium Voyageur and Premium
Economy cabins at Air France and KLM, seeing
them as an excellent compromise between
Business and Economy class. Lastly, the deployment of our Airbus
A380 fleet has enabled us to rationalize flights to major destinations
like New York, Johannesburg and Montreal. The cargo activity has,
for its part, seen a spectacular rebound driven by the global recovery
and an effective restructuring. The aeronautics maintenance business
also confirmed its profitability. We are starting to reap the benefits of
the pro-active recovery plan that we launched at the height of the crisis.
To what extent has the economic environment facilitated
this recovery?
It is clear that, like other air transport groups,
Air France-KLM has benefited from the global
recovery. Latin America, China and the United
States have emerged or are emerging from
the financial crisis that rocked the world in 2008.
Economic activity and trade are picking up and
our Group has been able to take advantage of this. At the same time,
a whole series of different events held back our momentum: an ash
cloud that closed a number of European airports including Amsterdam
“Our results
were
well above
target.”
“A new world to sha r
“Our teams were able
to contend with a series
of unexpected events
and take advantage
of the global recovery to
amplify the momentum.”
Pierre-Henri
Gourgeon
Chief Executive Officer, Air France-KLM
I N T E R V I E W