The effect of fears related to spread of coronavirus made “oil stain” and air bookings from France to Asia, excluding China, collapsed by 68.5% in the week to February 12, had announced Tuesday, February 25 the office of ForwardKeys studies. As a result, airlines, already penalized by the suspension of flights to China, are forced to take savings measures.
After Lufthansa, which freezes its hires and offers unpaid leave, it’s Air France’s turn to tighten its belts. A week ago, Air France-KLM had already estimated between 150 and 200 million euros the shortfall due to the suspension of the group’s flights to China from February to April 2020 due to the spread of the Covid-19 .
Reduction of expenses related to receptions and consultants
But the spread of the epidemic in many countries in Europe, raises fears of a loss of earnings much greater than the French airline, justifying measures of preventive savings.
In an internal letter intended for the directors of Air France, that the daily The echoes was able to consult, they are asked to reduce non-urgent expenses such as receptions or the use of consultants, as well as “a continuation of the hiring freeze for all services not directly related to operations”.
Likewise, the austerity measures regarding the postponement of promotional expenses “not linked to the stimulation of short-term sales.”
In mid-February, the International Civil Aviation Organization had already warned that the new epidemic could lead to a drop of $ 4 billion to $ 5 billion in revenues for global airlines. Obviously, European companies are preparing for the worst …
–
–
