Air Nostrum has submitted a request for aid from the Solvency Support Fund for Strategic Companies (Fasee) to help the airline overcome declining revenue after the sharp drop in passenger traffic caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, and to ensure connectivity and protect employment.
The airline has requested a loan totalling €103 million, which the company plans to repay in seven years.
Air Nostrum recorded losses of €129 million in 2020. Since the beginning of the coronavirus crisis, the company has maintained a policy of cash preservation and expenditure restraint; it has also reached agreements with fleet financiers, and last year it drew on ICO credit lines. Air Nostrum's workforce has been furloughed for over a year.
The airline has resumed 62% of the routes it offered just before the impact of the pandemic last April, and is planning to restart its summer schedule at 87% of the amount of routes operated in 2019.
Air Nostrum has nearly 1,400 workers, generates more than 2,000 indirect jobs, and works with more than 900 suppliers.
The company states that access to these funds will allow it to continue its business plan and recover the path of profitable and sustainable growth held back by the pandemic.
Since 1994, Air Nostrum has transported more than 90 million passengers on two million flights. In 2019, the company had a turnover of €539 million.