The French State will continue to support Air France without "any ambiguity", not excluding, if necessary, an increase in capital. This was stated on Friday by the Minister for Industry Agnès Pannier-Runacher, the day after a massive loss announced by the airline. "The State will be there because we believe that having a national company is an important element of our sovereignty", she declared on LCI.
“Yes, we have to keep a national airline,” Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire also told CNews. The Air France-KLM group suffered a loss of 2.6 billion euros in the second quarter, affected by the collapse in air traffic caused by the epidemic due to the coronavirus, after a loss of 1.8 billion out of the three first months of the year.
"If we have to go back to the capital, we will"
"The figure we are talking about is that of the first semester, it is at a time when you have no income and you continue to pay the charges, it is quite mathematical, you are in the red and you are massively in the red, ”observed Agnès Pannier-Runacher. Asked about a possible renationalization of the company, the minister judged that this was "not the subject".
“The subject is how Air France is bouncing back, and we will be there and if we have to go back to the capital, we will. We do not exclude it, but it is not the subject of the moment ”, she affirmed. "The State will do whatever is necessary to keep this national airline, the jobs that go with it, the independence that this represents", underlined Bruno Le Maire.
A loan of 7 billion euros
“I believe that with the 7 billion euros that have been granted, Air France can see it coming by the end of the year. But if at one time or another, because air traffic would not resume and the economic situation remained difficult, Air France could count on the support of the State, ”assured the Minister of the Economy.
France and the Netherlands each own 14% of the Franco-Dutch group that the airline Air France forms with KLM. Paris in the spring granted 7 billion euros in aid to Air France in the form of loans, the Netherlands doing the same for KLM to the tune of 3.4 billion euros. The French company has announced that it will cut 7,580 jobs by the end of 2022 and KLM up to 5,000.
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