The announcement of a support plan for 7 billion euros for Air Francemade official on 24 April, provided for compensatory measures, and the environmental was explicitly targeted. The comments made on Wednesday by Bruno Le Maire confirmed the creditor's demands of the company, stressing that ". this support for Air France is not a blank cheque ". Appearing before the Assembly's Economic Affairs Committee - more precisely in videoconferencing -The Minister for the Economy has clarified his demands, with concrete measures. These include a statement that will be of particular concern to business travellers : " As soon as there is a rail alternative to domestic flights lasting less than 2 hours 30 minutes, these domestic flights will have to be drastically reduced and, to put it bluntly, limited simply to transfers to a hub. "according to Bruno Le Maire. Clearly, point-to-point flights between Paris and cities such as Lyon, Bordeaux, Nantes or Rennes would no longer be possible. Only passengers transiting via the Paris hub to destinations further afield would then be able to use these connections.
READ ALSO: " Is the train in a strong position after the crisis?"
Another government request: a drastic reduction in CO2 emissions. On this point, Air France announced its commitment on 26 April: " reduce our CO2 emissions by 50% on domestic flights departing from Orly and from region to region by 2024, as part of the adaptation of our domestic network ". The company's management added: " Our mission is also to ensure territorial continuity and link the French territories to Paris and the rest of the world, while respecting our environmental commitments, and when there is no efficient alternative with other means of transport. ".
Air France must become the most environmentally-friendly airline on the planet
Among the other priorities - with the company's competitiveness identified as a primary condition for government support - the Minister for the Economy also mentioned the use of biofuels (2% by 2025), and the renewal of the long and medium-haul fleetBruno Le Maire said in passing: " incidentally, it is also a condition of the survival of Airbus ". This message was anything but trivial, as Boeing announced on the same day that it was cutting its 10% of its workforce... Ultimately, Bruno Le Maire has set the course: " Air France must become the most environmentally-friendly airline on the planet ". A goal that he even makes " the sine qua non of my signature in support of Air France ".
A roadmap for the summer
We should soon have a clearer picture of the impact of these decisions on the airline's network. According to Air France management: " Air France will present a roadmap for its domestic network in the summerIn addition to the environmental challenges, we also need to turn this business around economically, given that it recorded losses of €200 million in 2019. ".
