A soaring fuel bill has hit Air France KLM’s quarterly figures, with profits slumping 60% to 251m euros, versus 603m euros for the same period last year.
Elsewhere the joint carrier turned in a fairly robust set of figures, with strong unit revenue in passenger activity and a marked improvement in cargo profitability partially off-setting a fuel bill which skyrocketed 266 million euros.

Despite the slowdown in global growth and the increase in fares designed to absorb a part of the rise in oil prices, the passenger activity achieved a 3.7% rise in traffic and a high load factor of 80.3%.

The main changes in operating costs were as follows:
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The fuel bill amounted to 1.36 billion euros against 1.09 billion euros at 30 June 2007, a rise of 266 million euros (+24.3%).
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Employee costs amounted to 1.87 billion euros, up 8.0%.
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Catering expenses were up 12.7% to 124 million euros, in line with the significant increase in activity at Servair (+52.6%).
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Commercial and distribution costs fell 7.8% to 282 million euros, mainly reflecting the decline in commissions.
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