Air France KLM's traffic rises

Air France KLM, hit by strikes and without a CEO since May, reported higher traffic figures that lifted its battered shares, while sources voiced caution about the possible appointment of a top French transport executive as its new boss. The company said the group overall - comprising the networks of Air France KLM, Hop! and Transavia - carried 9.3m passengers in June, up 3.7% from a year earlier. The overall load factor, a measure of the extent to which an airline has filled its planes, rose to 89.3% in June from 87.7% last year, it said. The higher figures lifted Air France KLM shares, which were up 7.2% in mid-session trading, but they remain down by roughly 40% so far in 2018, mainly due to the impact of the strikes on the company. “Overall, June’s traffic stats are a return to normality and highlight the favorable market conditions that exist despite the strike which impacted April and May results,” wrote Irish brokerage Goodbody in a research note.<br/>