PARIS, April 30, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - Air France-KLM on Wednesday announced a loss of 249 million euros ($283 million) for the first quarter of the year, down from more than 500 million euros in the same period last year.

The Franco-Dutch aviation group said its turnover had risen eight percent over the first quarter in 2024 to 7.2 billion euros. It said losses had been cut through sustained demand for travel and lower fuel prices.

The group said it had 21.8 million passengers between January and March, up 4.5 percent from the first quarter last year.

Chief executive Benjamin Smith said ticket sales for summer travel had helped boost the carrier's finances.

The group said that for the May-June period, reservations for trips from Europe to the United States had fallen 2.4 percent over last year, while sales of tickets from US cities to Europe had increased 2.1 percent.

Fuel costs for 2025 are estimated to be 6.7 billion euros, down from 7.3 billion euros in 2024, the group said.

Air France-KLM suffered in 2024 from a shortage of planes, the strong dollar and people avoiding Paris during the Olympic Games. This limited annual net profit to 317 million euros.