Following the imposition of multiple travel bans, and the French government’s decision to upgrade the Covid-19 pandemic to a level 3 public emergency, requiring the closure of all non-essential services, Air France-KLM is reducing available seat kilometres by up to 90%.
In a statement, the group said that its reduction in capacity is currently scheduled to last two months, and the Air France-KLM will continue to monitor the evolution of the situation on a daily basis and adjust it if necessary.
As a result of this reduction in capacity, Air France will ground its entire Airbus 380 fleet and KLM its entire Boeing 747 fleet. It has also taken a number of financial measures such as reducing its capital expenditure plan by €350 million, to which will be added the impact of the decline in activity on the amount of maintenance investments ·
Last week, the Air France-KLM Group drew a revolving credit facility for a total amount of €1.1 billion and KLM drew a revolving credit facility for a total amount of €665 million. As of March 12, the Group and its subsidiaries had more than €6 billion in cash and cash equivalents
“In this extremely difficult context, the Air France-KLM Group has welcomed the statements made by the French and Dutch governments, which have each indicated that they were studying all possible means to support the group,” the firm said in a statement.