Shares rally in early trade
Schiphol airport disruptions may linger
Airline lost 170 mln euros revenue due to Schiphol restrictions

LONDON, Feb 17 Reuters Air FranceKLM said on Friday its 2023 bookings were almost back to prepandemic levels as it reported a betterthan expected fourthquarter operating profit with global travel demand seeing a rebound.

The airline39;s shares rose more than 6 in early trade, hitting their highest since June and outperforming the broader weak stock market. The panEuropean STOXX 600 was down 0.85 at 0805 GMT.

The carrier reported its highest fourthquarter revenue at 7.1 billion euros 7.55 billion, up almost 50 yearonyear.

Operating profit fell 45 to 134 million euros on the back of higher costs including fuel, but it beat estimates.

Last year was a difficult one with the travel industry struggling with pandemicrelated restrictions and as prices of jet fuel and other key products soared due to the RussiaUkraine conflict, Chief Financial Officer Steven Zaat said.

Air France also lost 170 million euros in revenue last year due to travel disruptions at Amsterdam39;s Schiphol airport after the airport restricted capacity last year due to staff shortages.

I39;m very happy that we can say now that 2022 Q4 ended better than where we ended in Q4 2019, Zaat added.

The company said it was on track to fully pay back French state aid by April 2023, reporting a net debt of 6.3 billion euros, down 1.9 billion euros from the previous year.

Zaat,…