Beam of encouraging signs for Air France-KLM.
Still far from coming back afloat, the Franco-Dutch air group sees its economic morale boosted after a "beautiful summer season".
He hopes to build on this momentum with “strong demand” for travel to reopened countries, generated by a year and a half of restrictions.
Convalescing like all airlines that have not gone out of business, Air France-KLM intends to gradually increase its capacity and continue to redress its accounts.
The group ended the July-September period with a net loss of 192 million euros, which marks a significant improvement compared to the 1.5 billion euros lost in each of the two previous quarters.
Above all, he found, as promised, a positive operating result, at 132 million euros, allowing the CEO of the group, Benjamin Smith, to greet a "beautiful summer season".
Good figures for Transavia
This good result is due in large part to the “strong performance” of the group's low-cost airline, Transavia, which took advantage of its customers' appetite for sunny destinations on the Old Continent - Spain, Portugal, Greece - in during the summer.
So many countries with access facilitated by the European health certificate.
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After a start to the year hampered by travel restrictions, the company with white and green planes saw its number of passengers explode by 111% over one year in the third quarter, "with activity levels back to around 85%" of the pre-crisis.
Caution
The whole group, which suffers from the closure of many countries served before the crisis by the major long-haul networks of Air France and KLM, has however regained on average only 66% of its capacity in the third quarter of 2019. The company transported 16.94 million people over the period, an almost doubling over one year, but still far from the 29.1 million in the third quarter of 2019, the last summer before the pandemic.
The effect of this crisis is also evident on turnover, which reached 4.56 billion euros from July to September, an increase of 89% over one year, but which only brought it back to 58% of the level of 2019. A situation which is worth today to Air France-KLM to be engaged in an all-out savings plan which results in thousands of voluntary departures.
Read alsoBuilt by the crisis, Air France will cut more than 7,500 jobs by the end of 2022
"The Covid-19 crisis is not yet behind us, however, warned Benjamin Smith.
Important continents like Asia remain largely closed and business travel is slowly picking up ”.
The reopening to foreigners next month of the borders of the United States, the destination to which Air France achieved 40% of its turnover before the crisis, is a factor of optimism, especially since "we are seeing strong demand From clients, said CFO Steven Zaat.
A sealed deal with the banks
Forecasting a fourth quarter "promising", Steven Zaat announces that the company will repay 500 million loan guaranteed by the French State (PGE), out of 4 billion in total, "in the coming weeks". The loans that made it possible to get through the worst of the crisis must be repaid by 2023, but the group has reached an agreement with the banks to repay some 800 new million in 2023, then 1.3 billion in 2024 and as much in 2025, says the CFO.
Despite this breath of fresh air, the group, already recapitalized in April with the help of the French State which doubled its stake to 28.6%, will need a further strengthening of its financial structure, given its massive debt. of 8.1 billion euros at the end of September.
In May, shareholders gave the green light to new issues of shares for an amount of up to 300% of the current capital.
"We are waiting for the right moment" to launch this operation, affirms Steven Zaat, according to which the group "has no problem of liquidity".
