Air France sees revenue hit as fliers avoid Paris olympics

Air France-KLM is experiencing pressure on projected unit revenue this summer season at French units because passengers are avoiding Paris in the summer months to skirt possible disruptions and high prices during the Olympic Games. 

The disruption at the carrier group’s Air France and Transavia France subsidiaries will curtail unit revenue by €160 million ($172 million) to €180 million in the period between June and August, the company said in a statement, though it said it won’t hurt guided capacity “at this stage.” 

After the Olympics, travel to and from France will likely go back to normal, and the carrier said it’s seeing “encouraging demand” for the end of August and for September. 

Air France-KLM rose 0.6% at 9:40 a.m., amid a broader gain in French stocks after the far right recorded a smaller margin of victory in elections in the past weekend. The stock has declined 39% this year. 

Collectively, the five biggest airlines are selling 1.35 million more round-trip tickets to Paris from July to September than they did last year, based on data from aviation analytics firm Cirium. More than half of that extra capacity has been added by Air France and Transavia, with Ryanair Holdings Plc accounting for much of the rest, with a 25% expansion of its schedule.