KLM Growth Prospects Threatened by Dutch Government’s Airport Cap Policy
Skift Take
If KLM and Schiphol airport are two golden geese of the Dutch economy, government officials are doing their utmost to strangle them.
For KLM, there’s no time like the present. The problem is the future.
During the second quarter, no European airline performed better financially. KLM by itself, excluding its sister airlines Air France and Transavia, earned a hearty 9.4 percent operating margin. Not even Swiss Air or Ryanair did quite that well. KLM’s springtime success enabled it to repay more than $1 billion borrowed from banks and the Dutch government during the two-year-long Covid crisis. During the second quarter, furthermore, it stopped receiving government payroll support (though it does still owe a lot in deferred tax).
Don’t for a second think that KLM’s second quarter was problem-free. High fuel prices, escalating labor costs, Russia’s airspace closure, lost Asian business, low asset utilization — this was no time to celebrate. Operations at Amsterdam's Schiphol airport, meanwhile, were an absolute mess during the period. Nevertheless, KLM enjoyed a resurgence in passenger
