Air NZ suffered from a strong dollar, high fuel prices and tougher competition. Restructuring cost $17.6m but selling catering made $4.2m.
Operating profit increased from $11.5m to $25.1m and revenue rose 34% in Norwegian krone. An early Easter detracted from yield.
BA's operating profit slid 28% as the strength of sterling cost $117m. BA made $213m from selling its holding in US Airways.
Last year's operating loss of US$1.2m improved to an operating income of $18.5m, though operating revenues fell 2% to $562m.
Currency fluctuations and suspended A330-300 operations held back passenger revenues but cargo sales increased 13.6% to $385m.
KLM's traffic and yield both increased by 11% and operating income rose 67% to $127m. Last year saw $149m in gains on Northwest shares.
A weak Deutsche mark helped boost operating profits by 206% to $194m. Lufthansa Cargo made $19.5m after losing $29m last time.
Operating profit rose 4.9%. Qantas made a $78m gain on selling its AIr New Zealand shares, but made $91m of provisions.
Swissair's traffic rose 17%, helped by its new ZŸrich hub, and operating profit more then doubled. Last year's results have been restated.
Increased volumes and lower costs led to 58.5% profit growth for the SAS Group. Passenger traffic grew by 4% on 1996.
Increased cost of living allowances pushed Thai's personnel costs up 16.2%, while fuel consumption and prices rose.
Increased cost of living allowances pushed Thai's personnel costs up 16.2%, while fuel consumption and prices rose.
Source: Airline Business
