A 56.6% fall in the number of passengers carried, traffic down 50.6%, a load factor down 20.5 pts: unsurprisingly, the figures published by the Air France-KLM group for March are largely impacted by the global spread of the Covid-19 virus. And that's probably not all, since the group is planning a suspension of 90% of its capacity for April and May 2020, serving only a few key cities on a reduced scale from the Paris CDG and Amsterdam Schiphol hubs.
Like most of the world's airlines, the Franco-Dutch airline group is suffering the unprecedented consequences of a health crisis that is having a major impact on the travel industry. To help keep the group's airlines afloat, the Secretary of State for Transport, Jean-Michel Djebarri, spoke in an interview with LCI about the following measures 6 billion in aidThe French and Dutch governments, both shareholders in Air France-KLM, are currently discussing a rescue package. The aid would be needed to survive the crisis, and would probably take the form of bank loans guaranteed by the two governments.
At a time when the global airline industry could see 61 billion dollars of its cash reserves in the second quarter alone, the President of the International Air Transport Association (IATA), Alexandre de Juniac, referred to the need for action on the part of the airline in his briefing on 7 April: "IATA is committed to ensuring that the airline's cash reserves are maintained. The industry is burning cash at a dangerous rate (...) Governments must urgently provide financial assistance to airlines. "This can take the form of direct financial support, loans or loan guarantees from government or central banks, or tax breaks. Of the 65.5 million jobs linked to aviation, IATA estimates that 25 million are at risk. " This is one of the reasons why we believe that governments must make airline viability a priority. "said Alexandre de Juniac.
