Air France-KLM has posted a €212 million net loss for the April-June quarter. The airline group’s operating loss widened from a year ago to €145 million even though revenue rose 8.7% to €6.22 billion.
Analysts were on average expecting a quarterly operating profit of €47 million on revenue of €6.264 billion and a net loss of €41 million.
Profits were impacted by high fuel costs, turmoil in North Africa and the Middle East and the aftermath of the Japanese earthquake, which combined to cause €100 million in losses.
Air France-KLM also referred to the European debt crisis impacting business travel and the movement of goods.
The group is halving plans for long-haul capacity growth in the winter to 2.7% from 5.1% to shore up its preserved goal of an operating profit in 2011.
Passenger traffic rose 9.4% in April-June after adjusting for the six-day closure of European airspace due to the Icelandic ash crisis in April 2010.
Cargo traffic rose just 1.9% for the quarter, impacted by the Japanese crisis and overcapacity in China.