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Air France KLM reported higher passenger traffic figures for October, as its new CE Ben Smith embarks on plans to improve performance after costly strikes earlier this year. Air France KLM said it carried about 9.2m passengers in October, up 3.3% from last year. The group’s load factor - a measure of how packed an airline’s planes are - increased by 0.5 percentage points to 87.5% from last year, the company said. Smith joined Air France KLM in September from Air Canada, and within weeks struck a pay deal with staff unions to end a dispute that had led to protracted and costly strikes which grounded hundreds of flights earlier this year. <br/>

Kenya Airways has ceased issuing tickets for flights to Burundi after the state demanded the airline’s wholly owned budget carrier fly bigger jets. While Jambojet Ltd received authorization to operate between the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, and Bujumbura, Burundi’s main city, the Ministry of Transport, Public Works, Equipment and Land Use Planning failed to give requisite approvals because of the low-cost airline’s aircraft type, Kenya Airways said. “Jambojet’s fleet, like many other airlines, consists of economy Bombardier Q 400 serving the domestic and regional markets,” Kenya Airways said. Flights to Burundi will continue until further notice, it said.<br/>