Air France-KLM on Tuesday announced that net profit for the first quarter of its financial year was down by more than 50% to €168m compared to the same period a year earlier (€415m).

The company said the fall was largely due to high oil prices and currency fluctuations.
The airline’s fuel costs went up over 24% in the quarter under review to almost €1.4bn, compared to a year earlier. It expects its total full-year expenditure on fuel to reach €5.9bn.
The airline said the economic situation has forced it to make extra cost savings of €190m, bringing its total cost cutting operation to €620m for the 2008/2009 financial year.
Air France-KLM said turnover for the last quarter rose slightly to almost €6.3bn.
The company confirmed its full-year forecast for 2008/2009 operational results of around €1bn.