The government unveiled Tuesday its plan to support the aeronautics industry, hit hard by the crisis due to the coronavirus, in order to preserve a sector that employs 200,000 people in France and allow it to innovate with less polluting planes. After a plan for tourism of 18 billion euros, another for the automobile of 8 billion, it is not less than five ministers -Bruno Le Maire and Agnès Pannier Runacher for the Economy, Florence Parly for the Armies, Elizabeth Terminal for the Ecological Transition and Jean-Baptiste Djebbari for Transport- who must announce to Bercy several billion euros for the aeronautical industry.
The sector, like the rest of the economy, already makes extensive use of short-time working schemes and state-guaranteed loans, which could be expanded. Air France alone benefited from seven billion euros in state aid in the form of direct loans or bank loans guaranteed by the public authorities. The aeronautical industry is a victim of the cascade effect of the collapse of air traffic and the financial difficulties of the airlines, which have to cancel or postpone orders.
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The crisis is such that "Airbus survival is at stake" , according to his boss Guillaume Faury. And with that of the behemoth with 48,000 employees in France, that of a myriad of equipment manufacturers, often SMEs or mid-size companies with shaky cash. The European aircraft manufacturer, which has reduced its production rates by around 30%, prides itself on placing orders for 12.5 billion euros each year from 10,000 manufacturers in France.
The plan should therefore include a recapitalization fund for companies in difficulty, endowed with several hundred million euros, supplemented in particular by the major players in the sector (Airbus, Safran, Dassault and Thales), BPIFrance or the ACE Management fund ( subsidiary of Tikehau), according to several sources familiar with the matter. In a report, the deputy of Haute-Garonne Mickaël Nogal recommends that it also be financed by communities and private investors "to the tune of a billion euros" in total and that it be "operational as quickly as possible with regard to the emergency ” . Export guarantees to a sector beneficial to the trade balance could also be strengthened.
Towards a "greener" plane
To revive the activity of the sector, Mickaël Nogal proposes in his report given to Jean-Baptiste Djebbari to establish a "scrapping bonus" which should be brought to the European level. "Many airlines, usually small and / or low-cost, have aging aircraft fleets" that consume more fuel and are therefore more polluting than more modern aircraft, he writes. In parallel, it would be necessary to launch a system of dismantling and recycling of devices, according to him.
Another part of the plan concerns support for research and development, a budget item into which companies tend to cut in times of difficulty. It will make it possible to move towards planes emitting less greenhouse gases and to modernize the industrial tool. "The armed wing in aeronautics to go towards a greener plane is the Corac" , the Council for civil aeronautical research which brings together all the players in the sector, according to a source familiar with the matter. Its annual budget is currently 135 million euros but "quite considerable sums have been requested" , according to her.
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Defense, the state's main investor, is also mobilized to support a “dual” sector , present in the civil and military sectors. By a "teasing game" , the Ministry of the Armed Forces will accelerate certain orders planned later in order to give load to companies in difficulty and which are able to deliver. The inability of other manufacturers to deliver this year due to the crisis "frees up some room for budgetary maneuver , " says one of Florence Parly's cabinet.
