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SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

 

Form 6-K

Report of Foreign Issuer

Pursuant to Rule 13a-16 or 15d-16 of
the Securities Exchange Act of 1934

 

of February 5, 2004

 

KLM ROYAL DUTCH AIRLINES
(translation of Registrant’s trade name into English)

Amsterdamseweg 55, 1182 GP Amstelveen, The Netherlands
(Address of principal executive offices)

 

 

(Indicate by check mark whether the registrant files or will file annual reports under cover Form 20-F or Form 40-F.)

Form 20-F   X    Form 40-F       

(Indicate by check mark whether the registrant by furnishing the information contained in this Form is also thereby furnishing the information to the Commission pursuant to Rule 12g3-2(b) under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.)

Yes         No   X  

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TRAFFIC AND CAPACITY STATISTICS — JANUARY 2004
SIGNATURES

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04/008

TRAFFIC AND CAPACITY STATISTICS — JANUARY 2004

# Passenger load factor improved 2.3 percentage points to 78.5 percent
# Passenger capacity still 6 percent below last year
# Cargo load factor increased by 2.3 percentage points to 67 percent.

Passenger Traffic

January passenger capacity was down 6 percent. As traffic decreased by only 3 percent, passenger load factor improved by 2.3 percentage points to 78.5 percent.

On the Asia Pacific routes capacity was 2 percent lower than last year. As traffic in this route area was 3 percent lower than last year, load factor decreased by 0.8 percentage points to 81.5 percent.

North Atlantic load factor improved by 5.7 percentage points to 81.1 percent. This is the result of a capacity decrease of 17 percent, which is in line with the previous months, and a decrease in traffic of 11 percent.

Traffic on the Middle East / South Asia route area was 5 percent up on last year. Capacity was down 3 percent, which resulted in a load factor improvement of 6.4 percentage points to 80.9 percent.

The strong improvement in load factor on the North Atlantic and the Middle East /South Asia route area in part relates to last year’s increasing tension in the Middle East.

European traffic was 3 percent below last year’s level on 3 percent lower capacity. Load factor of 65.7 percent was virtually on the same level as last year.

Cargo Traffic

In January, cargo traffic increased by 1 percent compared to last year on 2 percent lower capacity. Cargo load factor improved by 2.3 percentage points to 67 percent.

Performance on the Asia Pacific routes continued to show a significant improvement with traffic up 11 percent on 6 percent higher capacity. Load factor on this route area increased by 3.2 percentage points to 78.4 percent, which is a relative strong performance bearing in mind that the celebration of Chinese New Year took place in January as opposed to February last year.

On the North Atlantic traffic decreased by 7 percent. As capacity was 10 percent lower than last year, load factor increased by 2.1 percentage points to 66.9 percent.

Cargo traffic outbound Europe continues to be under pressure.

Amstelveen, February 4, 2004

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		Month of January												Year to date
		2004				2003				change (%)				2003/04				2002/03				change (%)
Revenue passenger km (RPK) (in millions)
Europe			672				693				(3	)%			8,621				8,704				(1	)%
North Atlantic			1,108				1,240				(11	)%			11,840				12,796				(7	)%
Central and South Atlantic			703				725				(3	)%			7,176				7,041				2	%
Asia / Pacific			1,069				1,106				(3	)%			10,142				11,247				(10	)%
Middle East / South Asia			418				397				5	%			3,986				4,080				(2	)%
Africa			725				689				5	%			6,260				6,361				(2	)%
Total			4,695				4,851				(3	)%			48,024				50,230				(4	)%
Available seat km (ASK) (in millions)
Europe			1,022				1,050				(3	)%			11,450				11,619				(1	)%
North Atlantic			1,367				1,644				(17	)%			13,648				15,285				(11	)%
Central and South Atlantic			874				945				(8	)%			9,266				9,285				0	%
Asia / Pacific			1,311				1,344				(2	)%			12,723				13,368				(5	)%
Middle East / South Asia			516				533				(3	)%			5,062				5,482				(8	)%
Africa			892				846				5	%			7,969				7,875				1	%
Total			5,983				6,362				(6	)%			60,119				62,914				(4	)%
Passenger load factor (%)
Europe			65.7				66.1			(0.4)pts					75.3				74.9			0.4 pts
North Atlantic			81.1				75.4			5.7 pts					86.8				83.7			3.1 pts
Central and South Atlantic			80.5				76.7			3.8 pts					77.4				75.8			1.6 pts
Asia / Pacific			81.5				82.3			(0.8)pts					79.7				84.1			(4.4)pts
Middle East / South Asia			80.9				74.5			6.4 pts					78.7				74.4			4.3 pts
Africa			81.3				81.4			(0.1)pts					78.6				80.8			(2.2)pts
Total			78.5				76.2			2.3 pts					79.9				79.8			0.1 pts
Revenue freight ton-km (RFTK) (in millions)
Europe			3				4				(27	)%			33				50				(33	)%
North Atlantic			82				88				(7	)%			829				836				(1	)%
Central and South Atlantic			32				32				(0	)%			349				368				(5	)%
Asia / Pacific			167				151				11	%			1,879				1,706				10	%
Middle East / South Asia			16				22				(30	)%			219				234				(6	)%
Africa			28				27				7	%			281				280				0	%
Total			328				324				1	%			3,590				3,475				3	%
Available freight ton-km (AFTK) (in millions)
Europe			22				24				(5	)%			233				250				(7	)%
North Atlantic			122				135				(10	)%			1,177				1,194				(1	)%
Central and South Atlantic			54				61				(11	)%			572				609				(6	)%
Asia / Pacific			214				201				6	%			2,233				2,059				8	%
Middle East / South Asia			27				34				(20	)%			334				339				(1	)%
Africa			51				46				10	%			430				428				0	%
Total			490				501				(2	)%			4,979				4,878				2	%
Cargo load factor (%)
Europe			13.1				17.1			(4.0)pts					14.3				20.0			(5.7)pts
North Atlantic			66.9				64.8			2.1 pts					70.5				70.1			0.4 pts
Central and South Atlantic			59.4				53.0			6.4 pts					60.9				60.4			0.5 pts
Asia / Pacific			78.4				75.2			3.2 pts					84.1				82.9			1.2 pts
Middle East / South Asia			58.5				66.2			(7.7)pts					65.7				69.1			(3.4)pts
Africa			56.1				57.7			(1.6)pts					65.3				65.6			(0.3)pts
Total			67.0				64.7			2.3 pts					72.1				71.2			0.9 pts

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SIGNATURES

Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, thereunto duly authorized.