Following the lead by other airlines in the industry, Air-France-KLM has announced recently that it shall cut back on planned capacity increases. For instance, the airline will not offer more than 2% rise in the capacity of its carriers and the number of services operated, when compared to last year. The airline has not revealed the details of its original capacity increase plan. However, some analysts estimate that it was actually double than the current figures released.

In a statement, Air France has told that considering the record high prices of oil in the market, there is no other go than to cut back the planned capacity increase for the next year.

Though Air France has announced that it shall trim its growth plans to its present capacity, the development is said to be a bit more positive and encouraging than the dramatic shrinkage in the capacity of the carriers in the US. For instance, in the US, all the carriers have been forced to cut back on the capacity of their planes, flights and seats, even if they have not contemplated on these steps earlier. Most surprisingly, American Airlines has been forced to reduce the number of its seats and flights by 12 percent. On the other hand, the cut backs in the Europe is estimated to be far less than the case observed with the carriers in the US.

Despite the sluggish economy and the shooting up of oil prices, Air France-KLM has demonstrated a 2.6 percent increase in the passenger traffic during last month.

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