Air France-KLM returned to net profit last year, helped by a large exceptional gain which covered another loss, allowing it to expect better earnings ahead. The giant airline said it had a net profit of 613 million euros ($870 million) for its year to March 2011 after a loss of 1.55 billion euros the previous year. However, when exceptional items, including a gain of 1.03 billion euros, were stripped out, the company said it showed a loss of 234 million euros.
"The year ended positively despite all the problems and difficulties there were," chief executive Pierre-Henri Gourgeon told reporters. The company cited the massive disruption to traffic caused by the eruption of a volcano on Iceland in April 2010, popular unrest in the Middle East and Africa, the earthquake in Japan in March and higher fuel prices as major negatives over the past year. Gourgeon said that despite the problems, the company's strategy was working, noting tight control over capacity.