Air France sister KLM this year “in red” | Financial issues

According to information provided by the French newspaper La Tribune, the French airline expects an operating loss of 2 billion euros. Last year’s result will be negative 3.6 billion euros.

Air France-KLM will publish its annual results in February. The company will not expect any rebound next summer. The number of seats on Air France will be about 40 percent less than the level of 2019. In addition, the flight width will be about 50 percent of “normal”.

La Tribune reported that performance in 2021 could only be better than last year’s performance. Another “catastrophic” year is expected for aviation as a whole, and for Air France in particular. Air France-KLM did not want to respond to the newspaper.

The newspaper reported that the fourth quarter of 2020 will be the worst quarter of the year for the company. Last November, Air France announced a loss of 2.4 billion euros in the first nine months of the year. After three quarters, KLM’s deficit reached more than 1 billion euros.

It was previously announced that the recapitalization of Air France-KLM will take weeks if not months. In an interview with BFM, the French Deputy Minister of Transport, Jean-Baptiste Djebbari, said that in the ongoing talks with the Dutch government, Paris is closely monitoring French interests within the aviation group.

France and the Netherlands each own a stake of about 14 percent in the airline, which has already received 10.4 billion euros in government aid from the two countries in the form of loans and credit guarantees. As travelers are still turning away en masse due to the Coronavirus pandemic, more support is needed. This is expected to be in the form of an increase in equity capital.