The Air France-KLM Group reported a fourth quarter net loss of €1.0 billion on a 64 percent revenue decline to €2.4 billion versus Q4 2019. For the full year, the Group reported a net loss of €7.1 billion on a year-over-year revenue decline of 59 percent to €11.2 billion.
On Thursday (February 18, 2021), the Air France-KLM Group reported a fourth quarter net loss of €1.0 billion on a 64 percent revenue versus the same period last year to €2.4 billion. For the full year 2020, the group reported a net loss of $7.1 billion on a year-over-year revenue decline of 59 percent to €11.1 billion. The Group’s net employee costs were down for the year by 35 percent compared to 2019, while the average number of FTEs (full-time equivalent employees) decreased by 8,700 to 76,900 versus December 2019. Air France-KLM ended the year with a net debt of €11.0 billion, a year-over-year increase of €4.9 billion, and a total of €9.8 billion in liquidity and available credit lines. In Thursday’s report, Air France-KLM Group’s CEO Mr. Benjamin Smith, said,
“2020 tested the Air France-KLM Group with the most severe crisis ever experienced by the air transport industry. I would like to thank our employees for their dedication and tremendous flexibility during this period, which has allowed us to remain resilient despite an unprecedented drop in traffic. Since the very beginning of the crisis, we set the highest standards of health and safety for our customers and our employees, all while being able to seize Cargo opportunities and continuously adapting our flight schedules in the face of ever-changing travel restrictions.
“Thanks to the French and Dutch state support and this agile way of working, we were able to drastically reduce our costs, protect our cash, and continue the execution of major transformation plans within our airlines, involving the efforts of all employees. In the coming months, we will continue to strengthen the Group's core, improving its economic and environmental performance, so that Air France-KLM will be in a position to fully leverage all opportunities when the industry starts to recover.
“We begin 2021 looking forward that this year will see an upturn in traffic as soon as vaccination is deployed on a large scale and borders once again reopen. Our customers look forward to being able to travel again and their attachment to Air France, KLM, and Transavia has grown stronger during this crisis.”
The Group’s full year capacity was 46 percent of 29 levels, with a year-over-year traffic decline of 69 percent, largely attributable to pandemic-related travel restrictions. The Group also accelerated the phase out of less-efficient aircraft including Airbus A380s, Airbus A340s, Boeing 747s, Canadair Jets and Embraer 145s.
For the full year, the Group’s cargo capacity was down 30.7 percent, driven by the reduction in belly capacity of passenger aircraft, partially offset by an increase in freighter capacity and utilization of passenger aircraft for cargo-only flights. Due to the gap between capacity and demand, cargo unit revenue increased 76.8 percent at constant currency. The Group benefitted from a fleet of six dedicated freighters as well as a passenger long-haul fleet of Boeing 777/787s and Airbus A350s, well suited for cargo transport.
Air France-KLM’s maintenance order book was assessed at €9.1 billion at December 31, 2020, a €2.4 billion decline versus the end of 2019, attributable to the COVID-19 crisis. The company’s maintenance unit is carefully managing client arrangements on payment terms and believes they are well positioned to benefit from new generation aircraft maintenance activity.
Source(s): Air France-KLM Group, KLM