First-half losses grow

Air France-KLM promises further acceleration of cost-cutting as it reports widening of first-half losses to of 619 million euros. The company will add a further 300 million euros ($328.4 million) to a previously announced 1.5-billion-euro cost-cutting programme. Group chief executive Juniac:

The lack of results improvement leads us to implement immediate additional adaptation measures including, in particular, the closure of heavily loss-making routes, the downward revision in capacity for the forthcoming winter season, together with an acceleration and an increase in the magnitude of our cost-saving initiatives.