These third-quarter figures are due to our customers and colleagues, who work under difficult conditions.
From July to September 2022, KLM made an operating profit of €443 million on a turnover of €3,236 billion. These results were achieved under difficult operating conditions. Both customers and colleagues have been inconvenienced by this.
The summer showed strong demand for airline tickets. As a result, revenues were at the level of 2019, while they were able to operate fewer flights. This was due to the problems at Schiphol as a result of a shortage of security staff, to interventions that KLM had to make itself in the network due to labor shortages and due to problems in the supply chain of parts, which means that aircraft are in the hangar longer. As a result, the capacity was approximately 80% compared to the same period in 2019.
“The need for travel continues to be great and KLM makes this possible. These third-quarter figures are due to our customers and colleagues, who work under difficult conditions. We have taken a number of measures to give our customers more security and to reduce the workload. The effects of this will be visible in the near future. At the same time, these measures cost KLM a lot of money and limit the number of flights we can operate. We hope to see an improvement in this soon and are working hard on that.”
KLM was forced to take drastic measures to keep the operation manageable. For example, the sale of tickets departing from Schiphol is limited and flights have been cancelled. These interventions will be maintained in the coming period to improve the predictability of the network. The starting point was and remains: to ensure that every customer who has booked can fly.
In total, KLM and Transavia transported 9,5 million passengers. Freight performed well despite less belly capacity available. The maintenance division (E&M) saw customers return. All this led to an operating profit of €2022 million in the third quarter of 443, compared to a plus of €169 million in the same quarter of 2021. Revenues were €3,236 billion compared to €1,890 billion in 2021.
On the cost side, KLM with significant increases in the past quarter. This was partly due to the high oil price, inflation, shortages in the supply chain and the costs associated with rebooking and compensating passengers as a result of the changes to the network. The direct costs alone since the problems with Schiphol security started in April to September amount to almost €70 million. The loss of income is added to that, according to the Dutch airline.
“KLM posted an operating profit for the fifth consecutive quarter. We see that customers still want to travel and freight flows are also maintained thanks to our network strategy. This despite inflation, high oil prices and the exchange rate of the dollar we are dealing with. However, these developments mean that we must continue to focus on cost control.”
