Air France surprises with speed of recovery

PARIS, July 25 (AFP):  Air France-KLM is climbing well away from financial crisis, the airline group said Friday, releasing results that show a cut in losses and sharp rise in operating profits.

The speed of the turnaround surprised analysts, and shares in the airline, the second-biggest in Europe after German Lufthansa, surged.

The group, which was in severe financial crisis at the end of 2011, said that restructuring was paying off.

It said its recovery programme, called "Transform 2015", would end next year and it was ready to roll out its next five-year strategy, called "Perform 2020", which would focus on competitiveness and growth.

The group has already begun equipping its aircraft with facilities for an improved business class.

It reported a small net loss for the second quarter of 6.0 million euros and would have made a profit but for a 106-million-euro write-down of assets in its freight division, where demand was slower than expected to recover.

For the first half, a net loss was cut by nearly a quarter from the equivalent figure last year to 614 million euros ($826 million) from nearly 800 million euros at the same time last year.