Air France lost millions in winter weather chaos
Air France-KLM says it lost some 70 million euros of business in December because of bad winter weather. The Franco-Dutch airline said Monday that it could ask for damages from French airport authorities if they are held responsible by a government panel investigating the travel chaos.
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Air France-KLM said it would ask for damages from Aéroports de Paris (ADP) if a report from the government finds it is at fault.
If it turns out to be the case, “there could be negotiations with ADP to see under what conditions they could help us defray a party of the extra costs,” Philippe Calavia, the airline’s financial director, told the AFP news agency.
On Christmas Eve, the company’s CEO Pierre-Henri Gourgeon blamed ADP for not having enough de-icing fluid for the planes to take off in freezing weather.
Some 3,700 to 3,800 flights were cancelled in December, according to Calavia, though only 90 of those were long-haul flights.
A report on the transport chaos is expected to be made public later this week, after a series of round table discussions organised by Ecology Minister Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet and the Transport Secretary Thierry Mariani.
But even despite the problems and the loss of business, Air France-KLM announced that it still met its yearly objectives.
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