Does progress in ITA Airways privatization saga at the start of 2023 mark the start of a year of consolidation for Europe’s vulnerable secondary airlines?
Air France-KLM said it would repay €1 billion ($998 million) of the €3.5 billion outstanding on the French state-backed loan that helped it through the coronavirus pandemic.
Air France-KLM has begun exclusive discussions with Apollo Global Management over the injection of €500 million ($527 million) of capital into an engine subsidiary, in the airline group’s latest step toward repaying its COVID-19 related state aid.
Seventeen years after first working together, Air France CEO Anne Rigail and incoming KLM CEO Marjan Rintel will collaborate again on key fleet decisions for the group.
Italy’s ITA Airways said it would begin to deploy its new Airbus A350-900 on intercontinental routes for its summer season in June, after the aircraft made its first flight with the airline’s livery.
Air France-KLM said it had a “turning point” fourth quarter in which for the first time since the beginning of the pandemic, the group posted better than pre-COVID results, with a positive operating result.