| Economy - Air France/KLM Cargo results raises questions on market outlook |
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The French/Dutch carrier reported yesterday mixed January results as it’s cargo business declined almost one tenth down to 801 FTK. Utilisation dropped by 3 per cent down to 61.4 per cent at the same time. The carrier’s passenger division reported a 5.3 per cent growth for the same period. The group’s cargo results have been interpreted by some financial analysts as the beginning of a weaker market demand for 2012 and beyond. On Monday, German flag carrier Lufthansa announced the start of a major savings program, named “SCORE”. The program shall help to improve results by more than EUR 1.5bn by 2014 and will have an impact to any business activity and company within the Lufthansa group. Despite such efforts and even positive results as reported e.g. by HHLA, the Hamburg Port Handling group, several financial analysts downgraded buying recommendations for transportation companies. At aviainform we share some of these doubts as uncertainty especially in the Euro-Zone remains to be an issue. In contrast our market outlook forecasts more robust results for 2012 in Asian markets as well as in Latin America. A more cautious optimism shall apply for the US market which also shows several signs of uncertainty for this year. Source: aviainform, Feb 08, 2012 |
