Air France-KLM intensifies airlines’ fuel gloom

Airline executives forecast bankruptcies, job cuts and increased ticket prices yesterday as Air France-KLM plunged the industry into further gloom with a warning that its profits would fall by a third under the weight of rising fuel costs.

Shares in the Franco-Dutch carrier were marked down 10 per cent to


The warning from the world’s biggest airline by revenue provoked fresh turbulence in a sector already unsettled by Wednesday’s announcement from American Airlines that it would charge passengers to check in luggage in an effort to generate additional revenue. With Qantas, the Australian flag carrier, putting up the cost of international flights by 4 per cent and Japan Airlines also set to raise its fuel surcharge, executives predicted fewer passengers and a bleak outlook for the industry.

Philippe Calavia, Air France-KLM’s chief financial officer, said: