Over the first three months of the year, the Group continued to be negatively impacted by travel restrictions as the whole industry:
- Revenue at 2.2 billion euros, down 57% compared to last year
- EBITDA loss at -0.6 billion euros, mitigated due to strict cost control and national partial activity schemes
- Operating result at -1.2 billion euros, down 0.4 billion euros compared to last year
- Net income at -1.5 billion euros, after taking interest charges into account
- Net debt at 12.5 billion euros, up 1.5 billion compared to end of 2020
- At 31 March 2021, the Group has 8.5 billion euros of liquidity and credit lines at disposal
- Early April 2021, first set of balance sheet strengthening measures successfully executed resulting in an increase of €4bn equity and improved cash position by €1bn
OUTLOOK
Due to the stricter lockdown in France until, at least beginning of May, continuation of the lockdown in the Netherlands and travel restrictions worldwide still in place, the Group anticipates the beginning of the second quarter to be similar to the first quarter whereby the customer booking behaviour is still short-term oriented.
The key to reduce travel restrictions and reopen borders is a rapid roll-out of wide-scale vaccination. In the US, domestic demand is recovering rapidly due to the speed of the vaccination process.
In this context, the Group expects capacity in Available Seat kilometers circa index 50% for Air France-KLM in the Second quarter 2021 compared to 2019 for the Network passenger activity.
During the second half of the second quarter the Group will progressively ramp up capacity given the vaccination deployment in Europe.
For the Third quarter the Group foresees a capacity in Available Seat kilometers index in the range of 55% to 65% compared to 2019 for the Network passenger activity thanks to estimated higher demand.
The Air France-KLM Group continues to work to strengthen its balance sheet. Additional measures of equity and quasi-equity instruments are currently under consideration. Extraordinary resolutions will be presented at the next Annual General Meeting, aiming to give the Board of Directors great flexibility to restore equity.
| Air France-KLM Group | First Quarter | |
| 2021 | Change1 | |
| Passengers (thousands) | 4,819 | -73.4% |
| Passenger Unit revenue per ASK2 (€ cts) | 2.90 | -48.8% |
| Operating result (€m) | -1,179 | -364 |
| Net income – Group part (€m) | -1,481 | +320 |
| Adj. operating free cash flow (€m) | -1,344 | -519 |
| Net debt at end of period (€m)³ | 12,553 | 1,504 |
The Board of Directors of Air France-KLM, chaired by Ms. Anne-Marie Couderc, met on May 5, 2021 to approve the financial statements for the First quarter 2021. Group CEO Mr. Benjamin Smith said:
“A year into the COVID crisis, lockdown measures and travel restrictions in our home markets and around the world continue to strongly impact the Group’s activity. In this ever-challenging environment, the Group has nevertheless shown its resilience, maintaining a strict control of its capacity and costs” said Benjamin Smith, CEO of Air France – KLM. “The success of the first set of capital-strengthening measures completed in April, allows us to look forward to the summer season with greater confidence, hoping that the progress of the vaccination roll-out worldwide and the implementation of travel passes will allow borders to reopen and traffic to recover. In the meantime, we have accelerated the implementation of our transformation plan to build a solid post-crisis model. This includes the execution of our voluntary departure plans, which are progressing as expected. In the coming months, we will continue our strict cost control approach while reinforcing our sustainability commitments, in line with our ambitious environmental roadmap."
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