Air France and KLM, in the first year of their merger, reported a 33% rise in pre-tax income from a pro forma figure of 341m to 455m and a 20.7% increase in operating income from 405m to 489m for the year ending March 31.
The French and Dutch national carriers also reported that synergies from the merger at 115m were better than the forecast of 65m.
Jean-Cyril Spinetta, chairman and ceo of the merged airline, said the first year had been a “complete success.”
He added: “The impact of these synergies, together with the relentless pursuit of the cost control programs implemented at both companies, have enabled us to generate a strong rise in our results, in spite of the sharp rise in oil prices during the second half of the year.”
The annual results revealed that revenue was up by 7.3% to 19bn, the fuel bill rose by 33% to 2.65bn and costs outside fuel rose by 3.5%.
Meetings organisers unknown to travel managers
More than half (53%) of European business travel professionals do not know who organises meetings in their company, according to a new poll by the Association of Corporate Travel Executives (ACTE).
An even larger majority (64%) did not know their company's annual meetings spend.
The survey questioned 170 people across Europe.
An ACTE statement said the findings showed a far greater need for liaison between corporate programmes and meetings spend.
Among the other findings which will be released at today's (May 26) London Forum was that 29% of travel managers have had to change suppliers because of their corporate code of conduct.