It has been a few difficult years, with its future on a lifeline of state-backed credit facilities and loans, but Air France-KLM is now clearly looking to the future in great confidence. The Franco-Dutch airline group has raised its medium-term outlook, expecting to improve the operating result by €2.0 billion over the next five years and produce an operating margin above 8 percent between 2026 and 2028.
Group CEO Benjamin Smith, Chief Financial Officer Steven Zaat, and the rest of the management team expressed optimism and confidence during Thursday’s Investor Day in Paris. Smith explained that Air France-KLM has reaped the fruits from the transformation program that was launched before the pandemic in 2019, but accelerated during the Covid crisis. It continues and there is more work to do, but the airline group is in a much better shape than pre-Covid, with solid foundations laid out for sustainable growth built on sustainability targets.
Active as a journalist since 1987, with a background in newspapers, magazines, and a regional news station, Richard has been covering commercial aviation on a freelance basis since late 2016.
Richard is contributing to AirInsight since December 2018. He also writes for Airliner World, Aviation News, Piloot & Vliegtuig, and Luchtvaartnieuws Magazine. Twitter: @rschuur_aero.
