Third-quarter revenues for the Air France-KLM Group nearly doubled year over year, with demand rising as countries reopened over the summer, but executives said business travel recovery remained slow.
The group reported €3.8 billion in total revenues for the quarter, up 89.8 per cent year over year. Capacity was up 63.7 per cent year over year and at about two-thirds of the group's capacity in the third quarter of 2019.
Demand on the group's short- and medium-haul routes was "encouraging" through the quarter, driven largely by leisure travel, though the group's yield in September recovered to near 2019 levels, which indicated some recovery in business travel. US point-of-sale demand drove a "strong increase" in demand on North Atlantic routes, and routes to Canada also had a "good performance" once border restrictions there eased.
With restrictions on travel to the US from Europe easing this month, the group projects its capacity will be between 70 per cent and 75 per cent of 2019 levels for the fourth quarter.
Air France-KLM also announced that it will be setting a new carbon emissions reduction target for 2035, at the midpoint of its current goal of net zero emissions by 2050. The group has signed a letter of intent with the Science-Based Targets initiative – an independent reference organisation founded by the Carbon Disclosure Project, the United Nations Global Compact and the World Wildlife Fund – to validate those targets are in line with the Paris Agreement, which aims to limit global climate change to below 2 degrees Celsius of warming.
The group plans to submit its goals to the initiative in the first half of 2022, "placing our emissions reduction trajectory within a scientifically indisputable and demanding framework," Air France-KLM group CEO Benjamin Smith said in a statement.
Air France-KLM reported a net loss of €192 million for the third quarter, and improvement of €1.5 billion compared with its loss in the third quarter of 2020.