Air France-KLM struggles to cope with the Covid crisis

Dublin: The Air France-KLM airline is preparing for a lockdown in the wake of the Covid financial crisis.

Despite the help of the Dutch and French governments, the airline is struggling to cope with the Covid crisis.

The French-Dutch governments had joined hands with Air France-KLM in July to deal with the Covid crisis. Governments provided a total of 10.4 billion in unsecured loans and guarantees.

In the Dutch sector, the company reduced the number of employees by 20% and frozen the wage raise. The company has decided to lay off 1,500 employees.

The French division Air France has announced that it will lay off 6,500 employees by 2022 and cut capacity by 16%. However, the KLM was unable to find an agreement on austerity measures with the unions.

At the end of July, the company had announced that it would operate two-thirds of Air France-KLM services.

But the company was sinking into huge losses. The company lost €1.55 billion in the most recent quarter. In the second quarter, the company accounted for 12% of services and as a result, revenue fell by 3%.

Last month, Air France-KLM reported that it was losing €10 million a day due to the corona virus crisis.

Dutch finance minister Wopke Hoekstra said the company could not keep up if it could not cut costs said. It was during an interview with Dutch public television that the finance minister confirmed the crisis in Air France-KLM.

Assuming the current situation lasts until the end of next year, the minister said they will have to make further cuts.