Stronger demand on Asian routes boosted air traffic in June, three European airlines said on Wednesday, noting a rise in sales of business class tickets as economies begin to recover from the global downturn.
Air France-KLM, Europe's largest airline, posted a strong rise in revenue in the month as growth in both passenger and cargo activity outpaced capacity, which had deliberately been held down during the recession.
Scandinavian airline SAS and Finnish national carrier Finnair also said passenger traffic had risen last month, by 0.4 percent and 12 percent year-on-year, respectively.
All three airlines attributed part of the boost to a recovering market for air travel in Asia, where economic growth has accelerated. SAS and Finnair both said Asian traffic was up 26 percent in June.
"Particularly corporate travel has increased ... The demand comes, above all, from European and Asian markets," Finnair Chief Executive Mika Vehvilainen said.
Franco-Dutch Air France-KLM said passenger traffic rose 4.7 percent and its load factor, which measures how well an airline fills its planes, rose 3.5 points to 83.8 percent.
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