Air France-KLM , Europe's biggest airline, aims to cut between 2,500 and 3,000 jobs in the next two financial years, a spokeswoman for the carrier said on Wednesday.

The Franco-Dutch company, which posted a 9.4 percent slump in passenger traffic in March, will not renew short-term contracts or replace retiring employees, avoiding compulsory layoffs, she said, confirming an article in newspaper La Tribune.

Air France-KLM cut 2,400 jobs in the fiscal year ended March 31, 2009 and forecast an operating loss of 200 million euros for the period. It expects a further loss for 2009/10.

Shares in Air-France KLM have lost 1.33 percent so far this year, after dropping some 61 percent in 2008, giving the company a market value of about 2.7 billion euros ($3.6 billion).

The stock was 2.7 percent lower at 8.80 euros by 0716 GMT (3:16 a.m. EDT) on Wednesday.

($1=.7562 Euro)

(Reporting by Michel Rose; editing by John Stonestreet)

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