Credit: Air France-KLM

By Gary Raynaldo  DIPLOMATIC TIMES

Air France-KLM flew over a milestone last year by transporting for the first time more than 100 million passengers despite labor strikes and the social movement “yellow vests” in the French Republic.  The total number of passengers carried on Air France, KLM, HOP! and Transavia increased by 2.8% in 2018 compared to the previous year: the group carried 101.4 million passengers in 2018, compared to 98.7 million in 2017, the airline reported Wednesday.  Air France and HOP! alone carried 51.4 million passengers in 2018, an increase of 0.4% compared to 2017. The increase mainly concerns long-haul flights (+1.5%), while short- and medium-haul flights remained stable (-0.1%).

Credit: Air France-KLM 

KLM carried 34.2 million passengers in 2018, up 4.5% compared to the previous year. This company said the significant increase is attributable to both short- and medium-haul flights, which increased by 4.8%, and long-haul flights (+3.9%).

However, the violent protests across France took a toll on Air France-KLM Group’s revenue in December 2018.  The anti-government protests cost the company about $17 million in monthly sales, according to Bloomberg news.