THE HAGUE, May 4 (Xinhua) -- Air France-KLM recorded an increase of passengers' number in the first quarter of 2017, but also a rising loss, the Franco-Dutch airline announced on Thursday.
"The first quarter 2017 confirms a resilient start of the year," Air France-KLM said in a press release. This was mainly due to the rise of the number of passengers.
Air France-KLM carried 20.923 million passengers during the first quarter, up 5.2 percent from the same period last year, when the airline carried 19.896 million passengers. Revenues rose 1.9 percent year-on-year to 5.709 billion euros (6.24 billion U.S. dollars) in Q1 2017.
The company's three-month operating loss widened to 143 million euros.
The Franco-Dutch airline expects the high level of uncertainty regarding the geopolitical environment and the fuel price to continue.
Air France-KLM said to remain focused on unit cost reduction with a maintained target reduction of at least 1.5 percent in the full-year 2017. The cost reductions are part of a strategic project, called "Trust Together", launched in November last year to give the airline a better position on the global market.
