Air France-KLM lost €50 million on Paris Attacks impact

Reluctance to travel after the terrorist attacks in Paris on November 13th, cost airline partnership Air France-KLM about 50 million euros in lost turnover so far, financial director Jean-Francois Riolacci announced on Tuesday, Het Parool reports. Riolacci expects that the airlines will feel the adverse effects of the Paris attacks for another 3 to 6 months at least, though he did add that the consequences for KLM is "very limited". Travelers from Japan in particular and to a lesser extend North America are avoiding Paris after the attacks. The routes to and from Japan were already under pressure after the attack on satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo in January. Riolacci expects that it will still take some time before tourists, especially risk-avoiding Japanese tourists - dare to travel to Europe again. It is not yet clear whether further capacity cuts will be necessary. Ticket sales are starting to pick up to the same rate as last year, but according to the CFO, this is not enough to cover the lost turnover. Ticket sales for November was 1.8 percent higher than in November last year, with a one percent greater capacity. Riolacci attributes this mainly to a strong first half of November.