Air France, the first European carrier to enter the Korean market almost three decades ago, weathered a fair amount of storms here, but it never once thought to cut its services.

Instead, it bet even bigger and pledged to stay for the long-term.

This unwavering sense of commitment became the driving force behind the company’s fast and steady growth in Korea and Asia, said Erik Varwijk, executive vice president of Air France-KLM SA. The two firms merged in 2004.

“The market is very open, though it goes up and down a bit,” he told The Korea Herald in an interview. “We went through a crisis in 1997 and another two years ago. So be it. I know Korea is always strong. We decided to stay because we knew it would pay off in our long-term relationship.”

Despite setbacks such as the Asian financial crisis in 1997 and a 40-percent drop in sales following the 2007-8 financial meltdown, Air France-KLM got quickly back on track, Varwijk said.

“The market is recovering strongly,” he said. “We saw double-digit growth last year even in business class. This year we’re growing further ― Air France and KLM saw their capacity increase by 8 percent and 20 percent each.”

Air France operates direct flights between Seoul to Paris twice a day, while KLM flies to Amsterdam once. They together serve 244 destinations in 105 countries, carrying 71.3 million passengers last year.

Varwijk maintained his positive outlook despite persisting concerns about a sluggish global economy and rising fuel prices, as the company is pinning high hopes on further expanding customer bases in emerging economies to create new revenue sources.

“We see good development on a number of routes to Latin America, Africa and Asia. Good part of a global carrier is that there is a mix of good news and bad news,” he said.

The Dutch veteran, who has 22 years of experience in the aerial industry, saw technology and social media as the most powerful forces transforming the aviation sector at present.

“The whole distribution network changed in line with the development of the Internet and is now developing further with mobile devices and social media,” Varwijk said.

As part of its customer management policy, Air France-KLM launched a Facebook page, in which customers can get an answer to any question within 24 hours. It also sends flight-related information such as delay and cancellation via text messages.

“It’s like it was invented for aviation,” he said. “Those kinds of things were unthinkable 20 years ago because we are so much closer now. In that sense, it’s a totally different world. What an exciting development we’re going through.”

By Shin Hyon-hee (heeshin@heraldcorp.com)