10 JANUARY 2012

AIR FRANCE KLM passenger traffic rose +11.7% in December year-on-year  with over 6 million passengers carried but the latest data is mechanically inflated by last year 5100 flight disruptions due to December 2011 unusually harsh winter conditions in France and the USA.

Available seat kilometers rose +6.3% leading to a load factor of 81.5%. Passenger traffic grew on all routes but rose the fastest on the European network, +15.6% to over 4 million passengers carried, followed by the Americas +6%, Asia/Pacific +4.5%, Africa and the Middle East +3.3% and the Caribbean/Indian Ocean +2.6%.

Cargo activities on the same period slowed down and fell -0.3% but still performed best on the Americas network +2.9%. The load factor fell equally -0.3% to 68.1%. Europe, excluding France, saw cargo traffic remain unchanged and a load factor to 15.6% from 17.1% a year earlier.

Asia took the lead over the Americas as cargo activities fell -1.9% with a load factor of 78.6% (78.4% last year) while the Africa/Middle East route cargo traffic grew +0.7% and the load factor climbed a modest one percentage point to 61.4%. The Caribbean/Indian Ocean routes saw cargo activities decrease -14.1% with a load factor down to 41.6% (from 51.2%).

Year to date, cargo traffic declined -1.7% and passenger traffic rose +7.8%.