Transportation Industry

Company Watch - Air France KLM

AirGuide Business, July 7, 2008

7/7/2008

Air France KLM confirmed on Friday it was considering offering high-speed rail travel and will adjust its winter seat capacity in the face of rising jet fuel costs. The Franco-Dutch airline pulled out of a bid to rescue Italy's Alitalia earlier this year and competes with the emerging transatlantic partnership of British Airways, American Airlines and Spain's Iberia. On Friday, it confirmed media reports it was discussing a high-speed rail alliance with Veolia -- a French utility that runs several rail connections but is not yet active in high-speed travel, which is dominated by state-owned SNCF, Deutsche Bahn and the equally state controlled Thalys and Eurostar firms. "As part of the opening to competition of rail transport in 2010, Air France and Veolia are looking into the possibility of a partnership to create a new high-speed rail player on the European scene," an Air France KLM spokesman said. Veolia Transport, part of French water utility Veolia, could run trains under the Air France brand from the airline's hub at Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport to destinations across Europe, the Financial Times said on Friday. 7/4/2008

Air France KLM on Monday responded to soaring fuel costs by scaling back its capacity growth expectations for this winter and next summer, although it's still faring better than many of its U.S. and European rivals. 7/3/2008

Air France KLM flew 17.83 billion RPKs in May, up 6% from the year-ago month. Capacity rose 5.8% to 22.48 billion ASKs, lifting load factor 0.2 point to 79.3%. 6/30/2008

A French judge has ordered US carrier Continental Airlines and five individuals to stand trial over the crash of an Air France Concorde that killed 113 people, a prosecutor's statement said on Thursday. The judge said the defendants, including the man who oversaw the development of the Franco-British supersonic airliner, would be charged with involuntary manslaughter. The Concorde crashed in flames minutes after take off from Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport on July 25, 2000, killing all 109 on board and four people on the ground. Investigations concluded that the plane caught fire after one of its tires was punctured by a piece of metal that had fallen off a departing Continental flight, sending debris flying into the fuel tanks of the Concorde.Prosecutors say the metal strip had been incorrectly fitted to the Continental Douglas DC-10 and was made of titanium metal, rather than aluminum, which is softer and less likely to cause punctures. Continental has denied responsibility for the crash and has said it would fight the charges. Judges have issued an international arrest warrant for a welder named John Taylor, who worked for Continental at the time of the disaster, after he failed to appear for questioning. He and his supervisor, Stanley Ford, will both now stand trial. 7/3/2008

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