Air France-KLM is in advanced talks with the American investor Apollo about a capital injection of 500 million euros. If that investment materialises, the airline company expects to be able to repay part of its loans that the French state provided as emergency aid during the corona crisis.
Apollo would like to put the money in an Air France subsidiary for aircraft maintenance, Air France-KLM reports. This unit owns several spare aircraft engines.
Air France-KLM was hit hard by the corona pandemic, which made international air travel virtually impossible for a while. Even after the lifting of the strictest restrictions for travellers, the airline combination sold fewer tickets.
Due to the billions of losses, Air France-KLM has negative equity, which means that the total debt mountain is greater than the value of all the airline’s assets. The group is trying to strengthen its equity again with new investments.
Earlier this week, Air France-KLM announced a major air freight deal with French container carrier CMA CGM. The latter company will purchase 9 percent from Air France-KLM, which also helps to strengthen the capital.