Net profits at French-Dutch airline Air France-KLM fell by more than half in the third quarter, hit by a stronger dollar and the withdrawal from service of the A380 super jumbo A380.
Air travel this year has also been buffeted by the economic uncertainty triggered by the US-China trade war as well as the political crises in Hong Kong, Argentina, Algeria and other countries.
Net profits fell 53 percent year-on-year to 366 million euros ($408 million), but Air France-KLM CEO Benjamin Smith, a Canadian who took over as the airline's first non-French chief last year, said the results showed "resilience amid geopolitical uncertainties and softening macro-economic environment."
Operating profits fell 15.5 percent to 900 million euros, a slide that the airline blamed partly on higher fuel costs.
In the previous quarter, operating profits had climbed by an equivalent amount, as the airline rebounded from a disastrous 2018, when Air France was crippled by strikes.
The group's chief financial officer Frederic Gagey told journalists Thursday that net profits in the third quarter had been squeezed by a strengthening dollar in late September and a 100-million-euro charge related to the withdrawal of the airline's seven A380s.
Airplane manufacturer Airbus in February announced that it was ending production of its giant double-decker A380, having struggled to secure enough orders to offset the programme's massive costs.
Gagey estimated the cost to Air France-KLM of phasing out the aircraft by the end of 2022 at 400 million euros.
Despite the challenging environment Smith said he was "confident" that the airline could meet its full-year target of reducing costs by up to 1 percent.
