Air France KLM reported a sharp rise in net profits of 77m for the third quarter to December 31 compared with 23m for the same period in 2004.
For the nine months of 2005 up to December 31, the airline reported a 24% jump in net profits to 906m compared with 2004.
Operating profit for the three month period rose to 190m compared to 2004 while for the nine months it rose by 76.7% from 532 to 940m.
The airline said that during the three month period, passenger transport "remained dynamic with record load factors and strong unit revenues."
During that period, traffic rose by 11% on an increase in capacity of 7.6%. This pushed the load factor up by 2.2% to 80.1%.
For the nine months, the load factor was 81.3%.
During the third quarter, the carrier said its turnover rose by 12% to 5.43bn while for the nine months it rose 9.4% to 16.25bn.
Air France KLM said the strong results were achieved despite a 27.4% rise in fuel costs to 1bn.
Without the rise in the cost of fuel, it said it operating costs for the three months would only have risen by 5.3%.
But during the three months to December, the airlines said its commercial and distribution costs fell 17.3% to 291m, mainly due to the switch to zero commission.
The improved Air France KLM results are in line with the tow other major European carriers. BA reported a 29% rise in operating profits for the third quarter to December 31 while Lufthansa is expected to announce a 40% rise in operating profits for 2005 next month.
In its statement on its results, Air France KLM said that if market conditions remained the same, its aim was an operating income for the full year of 900m.