Government tells Air France to halve carbon-dioxide output

Air France must cut short-haul flights and meet a new target of halving its carbon dioxide emissions by 2024 to qualify for a €7 billion (Dh28bn) bailout, the French government told the country’s flag carrier.

The company would have to “drastically” reduce domestic air traffic in exchange for state loan guarantees, Environment Minister Elisabeth Borne said.

Ben Smith, the chief executive of Air France-KLM, said the airline and its local subsidiaries “lost €200 million on the domestic network” last year, Le Parisien reported.

The airline posted a net loss of €1.8bn in the first quarter of the year.

In an effort to stem its losses, Air France would have to cut flights to destinations that can be reached by rail in two and a half hours, such as from Paris Orly to Bordeaux and Montpellier. It could keep services to Nice, Marseille and Toulouse.

Transavia, the Dutch lowcost airline and subsidiary of Air-France KLM, could be used to plug the gap.

Like other airlines, Air France grounded almost its entire fleet during the coronavirus outbreak. It is currently operating between 3 per cent and 5 per cent of its usual schedule and serving 43 destinations for essential passenger traffic as well as cargo.

Air France has listed more than 90 destinations that it hopes to serve by the end of June. This would be about 15 per cent of its normal schedule, and use 75 of its fleet of 224 aircraft. The airline has also announced the “definitive end” of operations of the world’s biggest commercial aircraft, the A380.

It was part of a “group fleet simplification strategy of making the fleet more competitive, by continuing its transformation with more modern, high-performance aircraft with a significantly reduced environmental footprint,” it said.