Air France-KLM beat analysts expectations on Thursday as it posted a second consecutive quarterly core profit since the pandemic started, helped by long-haul routes and the reopening of the transatlantic travel last November.

The Franco-Dutch airline group's earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) came in at 745 million euros ($845.65 million) for the year, beating a Refinitiv poll of analysts who had pegged the figure at 342.9 million euros.

The company, however, posted a net loss of 3.29 billion euros, but better than feared, while revenue of 14.32 billion euros outpaced the Refinitiv poll estimates at 13.97 billion euros.

At the time of third-quarter results in October, the company had guided for a "slightly" positive EBITDA for the year.

($1 = 0.8810 euros)

(Reporting by Piotr Lipinski; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips)