AIRLINK 62.48 Increased By ▲ 2.05 (3.39%)
BOP 5.36 Increased By ▲ 0.01 (0.19%)
CNERGY 4.58 Decreased By ▼ -0.02 (-0.43%)
DFML 15.50 Increased By ▲ 0.66 (4.45%)
DGKC 66.40 Increased By ▲ 1.60 (2.47%)
FCCL 17.59 Increased By ▲ 0.73 (4.33%)
FFBL 27.70 Increased By ▲ 2.95 (11.92%)
FFL 9.27 Increased By ▲ 0.21 (2.32%)
GGL 10.06 Increased By ▲ 0.10 (1%)
HBL 105.70 Increased By ▲ 1.49 (1.43%)
HUBC 122.30 Increased By ▲ 4.78 (4.07%)
HUMNL 6.60 Increased By ▲ 0.06 (0.92%)
KEL 4.50 Decreased By ▼ -0.05 (-1.1%)
KOSM 4.48 Decreased By ▼ -0.09 (-1.97%)
MLCF 36.20 Increased By ▲ 0.79 (2.23%)
OGDC 122.92 Increased By ▲ 0.53 (0.43%)
PAEL 23.00 Increased By ▲ 1.09 (4.97%)
PIAA 29.34 Increased By ▲ 2.05 (7.51%)
PIBTL 5.80 Decreased By ▼ -0.14 (-2.36%)
PPL 107.50 Increased By ▲ 0.13 (0.12%)
PRL 27.25 Increased By ▲ 0.74 (2.79%)
PTC 18.07 Increased By ▲ 1.97 (12.24%)
SEARL 53.00 Decreased By ▼ -0.63 (-1.17%)
SNGP 63.21 Increased By ▲ 2.01 (3.28%)
SSGC 10.80 Increased By ▲ 0.05 (0.47%)
TELE 9.20 Increased By ▲ 0.71 (8.36%)
TPLP 11.44 Increased By ▲ 0.86 (8.13%)
TRG 70.86 Increased By ▲ 0.95 (1.36%)
UNITY 23.62 Increased By ▲ 0.11 (0.47%)
WTL 1.28 No Change ▼ 0.00 (0%)
BR100 6,944 Increased By 65.8 (0.96%)
BR30 22,827 Increased By 258.6 (1.15%)
KSE100 67,142 Increased By 594.3 (0.89%)
KSE30 22,090 Increased By 175.1 (0.8%)
Business & Finance

Air France to cut 40pc of domestic flights after bailout

The airline's domestic French operations booked an overall loss of 200 million euros last year, in part because of
Published May 27, 2020
  • The airline's domestic French operations booked an overall loss of 200 million euros last year, in part because of competition from extended high-speed TGV train services.
  • Overall Air France-KLM posted a loss of 1.8 billion euros in the first quarter alone, and it has warned it could be years before any return to pre-coronavirus activity.

PARIS: Air France-KLM will slash 40 percent of its French domestic flights by next year in exchange for receiving seven billion euros ($7.7 billion) in emergency coronavirus funding backed by the French state, the company's chief executive said Wednesday.

"Capacity will be reduced by 40 percent between now and 2021, with some destinations dropped," Benjamin Smith told shareholders at the airline's annual general meeting in Paris.

The French government has made any bailout contingent on profitability improvements at the airline and a reduction in its carbon emissions, which have become a key target of environmental advocates.

Smith said Air France would stop flights between cities where trains could provide a connection in less than two-and-a-half hours, or if the service did not contribute to an increase in traffic at its Paris hub, Charles de Gaulle airport.

That could spell the end of several daily flights from cities such as Bordeaux, Lyon or Nantes to Orly, the other main Paris airport, which has been closed since domestic flights ground to a halt during the coronavirus lockdown.

The airline's domestic French operations booked an overall loss of 200 million euros last year, in part because of competition from extended high-speed TGV train services.

Air France has pledged to halve its carbon emissions from domestic flights by 2024, as part of the conditions for receiving a three-billion-euro loan from the French state and a further four billion euros in bank loans guaranteed by the state, which owns a 14.3 percent stake in the group.

Overall Air France-KLM posted a loss of 1.8 billion euros in the first quarter alone, and it has warned it could be years before any return to pre-coronavirus activity.

Labour unions are bracing for the worst in talks with management that are set to begin Thursday.

"One can guess the job cuts that are going to result from this," said Joel Rondel, head of the works council for the airline's Hop regional subsidiary.

Comments

Comments are closed.