Air France-KLM suffers €1.8bn in losses in 2013

Air France-KLM announced a net loss for 2013 of 1.83 billion euros (2.51 billion U.S. dollars) Thursday but said its recovery was "perfectly on track." The huge loss was mainly due to a tax asset impairment, without which the operating profit would stand at 130 million euros (about 178.05 million dollars), compared with a 336 million euros (460 million dollars) loss the year before. The total revenue of the Franco-Dutch airline combined rose slightly to 25.52 billion euros (34.95 billion dollars), compared to 25.42 billion euros (34.81 billion dollars) the previous year. This meant an increase of 0.4 percent, and by 2.3 percent on a constant currency basis. "2013 marked an important stage in the group's turnaround," chairman Alexandre de Juniac said in a press release. "We are clearly benefitting from the successful implementation of new working conditions and of the industrial plans adopted in all of our businesses," de Juniac said. "As a result, we returned to a positive operating result despite the persistently challenging environment, generally robust free cash flow and reduced debt beyond initial targets," he said. Air France-KLM's French arm is in the middle of a broad restructuring plan, which aims to improve profitability 20 percent. The airline also confirmed its 2014 forecast of 2.5 billion euros (3.42 billion dollars) in gross earnings.