Air France bail out is out for question – Franck Riester

Nationalizing of Air France is not on the agenda. This was emphasized by the French trade minister Franck Riester in a conversation with RTL Radio on Friday. ‘That is not the issue’, Riester replied to the question as to whether the airline should be fully state-owned. He added that the government is currently focusing on the restoration of the country of the coronacrisis.

“Certainly, Air France, like other airlines, is going through a major crisis,” said Riester. The combination of aviation with KLM experienced an extremely difficult second quarter due to the coronacrisis and was already receiving state aid. Air France-KLM achieved a turnover of EUR 1.2 billion, compared with EUR 7 billion last year. The net loss amounted to EUR 2.6 billion, including additional depreciation due to the early withdrawal of the Boeing 747 by KLM and the Airbus A380 and A340 by Air France.

The French Minister of Finance Bruno Le Maire told television station CNEWS that France would “do anything” to preserve Air France. The French government has recently put billions of euros into Air France to keep the airline afloat. According to Le Maire, if air traffic does not recover and the economic situation remains difficult, Air France can count on the support of the state, Le Maire emphasized.