Paris (AFP)

The future of XL Airways was surrounded by fog Saturday, the airline terminated payment talks with potential buyers to avoid the fate of Aigle Azur who just put the key under the door.

Several signs of interest supported, but no firm offer of recovery in the state: the record was mixed for XL Airways Saturday noon, deadline by which the buyers had to make themselves known to the insolvency administrator.

"We are currently working on several signs of interest that have reached us during the last hours in particular," told AFP late afternoon on Saturday Lawrence Cotret, lawyer of the airline. However, noted the board of XL Airways, it is "still too early at this stage to know if any of these marks of interest will end before the hearing" in the commercial court of Bobigny, Wednesday.

Because if XL Airways indicates to have had several proposals, the question of the financing remains posed, admits the lawyer. "There are offers, but which are not funded in the state, at least we do not have the brands of financing," commented Me Cotret.

"We are working on very serious marks of interest, which come from serious people, and which deserve to be studied until the end.It is still too early at this hour to be able to decide and to be able to say if we will have or no serious offer in this case, "continued the lawyer, who discussed ongoing discussions with international companies.

For its part, the government said it mobilized. "We are continuing work with XL even today to maximize the chances of this company being resumed as soon as possible," commented the Secretary of State for Transport Jean-Baptiste Djebbari, on Europe 1 radio, saying he had discussed "with potential buyers".

In suspension of payment, XL Airways was placed Monday in judicial recovery pending the submission of offers of recovery. In recent days, its CEO, Laurent Magnin, has multiplied calls for help to Air France-KLM, but without success.

On Friday, Air France-KLM leader Benjamin Smith dismissed the idea of ​​taking over the troubled company, saying he saw "no profit" for his company in such an operation.

- Disappearance of Aigle Azur -

XL Airways employs 570 people and in 2018 transported some 730,000 passengers with four Airbus A330s, all leased. It mainly serves North America, including the United States, the Caribbean and Reunion but also China.

The company needs 35 million euros to leave, said a few days ago its CEO Laurent Magnin, for whom she was the victim of the "unbridled international competition" of low-cost long-haul companies and the weight of taxes and social charges in France.

"XL is a small operator that is under intense competition (...) and has failed to recapitalize fast enough to invest in aircraft," said Djebarri.

Placed in receivership shortly before XL Airways, another French company, Aigle Azur, disappears for its part: none of the offers of recovery was retained by the Commercial Court of Evry.

In Europe, the most vulnerable airlines are facing a brutal price war: in 18 months, at least a dozen companies have flagged, according to the International Air Transport Association (IATA).

Faced with this situation, about fifteen unions of air transport personnel in France Friday called on the government to help their sector.

© 2019 AFP