For 2019, Air France-KLM has announced a 31 percent drop in net profit to 290 million euros, on the back of a falloff in freight and rising fuel bills.
"Assuming a progressive resumption of operations from April, the estimated impact of Covid-19 on operating income is for a 150 to 200 million euros hit between February and April," the group said in a statement.
The spread of the coronavirus since the turn of the year has forced major carriers including British Airways, Air Canada, Air France-KLM, Lufthansa, American Airlines, United Airlines, Qantas, American Airlines and Delta to suspend thousands of flights to China.
The outbreak could mean an overall $4-5 billion drop in worldwide airline revenue, the International Civil Aviation Organization stated last week.
Operating results drop by one-fifth
Air France-KLM, which said its operating result dropped 19 percent to 1.14 billion euros, had announced on 6 February that it would progressively resume daily flights to and from Shanghai and Beijing from 16 March.
The group said Thursday it targeted a "return to normal schedule" from 29 March, including onward flights to the virus epicentre of Wuhan.
The tourist sector as a whole is reeling from the effect of the virus with dozens of Chinese cities in quarantine lockdown and tour operators shelving China trips for the time being.
Air France-KLM indicated that the virus would not affect the strategic five-year plan of director general Ben Smith which includes lifting the medium-term operating margin to 7-8 percent from 5 percent in 2018.
