Air France-KLM set to carry 1.1m passengers from China

Air France and KLM Group, the largest airline in Europe, carried more than 1 million passengers from China in 2012 and the number is expected to increase at least 10 percent year-on-year in 2013, a group executive said.

Paris and Amsterdam are the two main hubs of the group in Europe, said Bas Gerressen, Air France and KLM Group's general manager for greater China.

Over 80 percent of Chinese passengers to Amsterdam are transit passengers and the percentage to Paris is about 50 percent, he added but the group hopes to attract more business travelers.

"One challenge is finding more Chinese business travelers in the second-tier cities," Gerressen told China Daily.

The group runs 77 flights weekly from nine destinations in China, including from second-tier cities Chengdu, Wuhan, Xiamen and Hangzhou.

The economy cabin is nearly always full in the flights to and from the second-tier cities, he said, but the carrier still needs more business travelers.