Global Airport News

Air France-KLM's passenger traffic fell 4.1 percent in October but the airline reduced the number of available seats by 5.6 percent, allowing it to fill its planes further and place a floor under average revenues.

The Franco-Dutch group said the passenger load factor rose 1.3 percentage points to 82.5 percent in October, led by gains on its Americas network.

"Although unit revenues remained under pressure, they recorded a lesser decline," the airline said of the overall passenger trend in a statement on Monday.

Airlines report their traffic in a combination of passengers and the distance flown.

In terms of raw passenger numbers, Air France-KLM said it had carried 6.3 million people in October, down 5.3 percent.

Cargo traffic fell 19.1 percent from the same month last year but the load factor edged up 0.3 points to 67.7 percent as the group trimmed available capacity by 19.4 percent.

The figures came after traffic for the top three US airlines slumped in October, while the decline in unit revenue showed signs of slowing down.

Finnish carrier Finnair said on Monday scheduled passenger traffic fell nearly 11 per cent in October but its load factor rose half a percentage point.