FEBRUARY 2010 TRAFFIC
Passenger
. 3.5 point improvement in load factor to 77.7%
. Traffic down 0.6% for capacity reduced by 5.0%

Cargo
. Significant rise in load factor (+8.3 points) to 70.8%
. Traffic down 2.1% for capacity reduced by 13.5%

Following the significant capacity adjustments realised by the group over the past year, which have weighed on revenues, the recovery in load factors in both passenger and cargo aircraft continues. Unit revenues per available seat or ton kilometer are improving relative to the extremely low base of 2009. However, pressure on unit revenues remains strong on certain zones and in premium class in general.

Passenger business
Activity in February was affected by adverse weather conditions as well as four days of strikes by French Air Traffic controllers. The impact of these factors on revenues is estimated at some 22 million euros. Nevertheless the decline in traffic was limited to 0.6% while capacity was reduced by 5.0%, enabling the load factor to gain 3.5 points to 77.7%. The group carried 4.8 million passengers (-2.2%). Since January, comparables benefit from a favourable base.

Unit revenue per available seat kilometer (RASK) excluding currency was above the level of February 2009.

On the Americas network traffic was slightly up by 0.2% with capacity down by 7.1%. The load factor gained 5.8 points to 80.1%. Load factors improved both on North and Latin American routes.

Traffic was virtually stable on the Asia network (-0.4%) with capacity down 3.9%.The load factor gained 3.0 points to 86.1%, confirming the progressive recovery in demand volume on this network.

On the Africa and Middle East network, the decline in traffic was in line with that of capacity (-2.3% and -2.5% respectively). The load factor rose 0.2 points to 75.4%.

The Caribbean and Indian Ocean network saw traffic rise by 3.0% for stable capacity (-0.3%). As a result the load factor gained 2.7 points to 84.0%.

On the European network, severely affected by the adverse weather conditions and the air traffic control strike, capacity was reduced by 7.7%. The drop in traffic was limited to 3.3% enabling the load factor to progress by 2.9 points to 63.6%.

Cargo business
Cargo was also affected by the weather conditions and the strikes. Traffic was down 2.1% for capacity reduced by 13.5%. The load factor gained 8.3 points to 70.8%. Unit revenues per available ton kilometer (RATK) continued to improve relative to February 2009.