While state lockdowns to control Covid-19 continued across Europe, the group flew 4.8 million passengers in the quarter.
In a statement, the airline added: “Due to the stricter lockdown in France until at least the beginning of May, the continuation of the blockade in the Netherlands and the travel restrictions still in place worldwide, the group assumes that the beginning of the second quarter will be similar to the first quarter in which the customer’s booking behavior is still short-term.
« The key to reducing travel restrictions and reopening borders is to rapidly roll out vaccinations on a large scale. »
Air France-KLM expects total capacity to be about half as high in the second quarter as in the same quarter of 2019.
This is ahead of rival International Airlines Group, which this morning is expected to have around a quarter of capacity before Covid-19 fl will be.
Ben Smith, Group Chief Executive at Air France-KLM, said: “One year after the beginning of the Covid-19 crisis, lockdowns and travel restrictions in our home markets and around the world continue to have a strong impact on the Group’s operations .
« In this consistently challenging environment, the group has demonstrated its resilience, tightly controlling its capacity and costs. »
He added: « The success of the first capital-boosting measures completed in April made it possible allows us to look ahead to the summer season with greater confidence, in the hope that the advancement of vaccination and passport adoption around the world will allow borders to reopen and restore traffic. «
» In the meantime, we have accelerated the implementation of our transformation plan to build a solid post-crisis model.
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Ref: https://www.breakingtravelnews.com
