Air France-KLM announced on Wednesday that it had “fully repaid” aid from the French state for its recapitalization during the pandemic, an “important step” for the airline group, according to its CEO Ben Smith.
The two companies have “completely exited the French state’s recapitalization aid plan, granted under the European Union’s temporary state aid framework related to Covid-19,” Air France-KLM says in a statement.
The French-Dutch group had received 3.6 billion euros in recapitalization aid from the French state, including 3 billion in direct loans converted into perpetual hybrid bonds, and 600 million euros in shares issued for a capital increase.
Air France-KLM is thus released from the limitations attached by Brussels to this aid, in particular the prohibition to pay dividends, the moderation of executive compensation or the limitation of acquisitions.
To do this, the group had already reimbursed the balance of 2,500 million euros in bank loans guaranteed by the State in mid-March.
On Wednesday, the two companies called off a balance of 300 million euros of perpetual French government bonds and 107 million euros of severance payments associated with it.
728 million euros of net profit in 2022
The group says it has refinanced 407 million euros through a new perpetual hybrid bond issue with the French state, this time “without restrictions.”
“Today marks an important milestone for Air France-KLM. I am happy that we have now fully repaid the state aid and that we have released ourselves from the restrictions associated with it,” said Ben Smith, quoted in the press release. .
Saved from bankruptcy by the French and Dutch states, and after two recapitalizations, the group emerged inherently more profitable from the crisis. It generated a net profit of 728 million euros in 2022. The Covid-19 had made it lose 7.1 billion euros in 2020, and another 3.3 billion in 2021.
In addition to this return to green, Air France-KLM reached a turnover level close to that of 2019, with 26.4 billion euros, compared to 27.2 billion three years earlier.
Source: BFM TV
