The talks between Air France-KLM and the American investor Apollo about a capital injection of 500 million euros are at an advanced stage. With that money, the aviation group hopes to be able to repay part of its loans that the French government provided as emergency aid during the corona crisis.
Apollo would like to put the money in an Air France subsidiary for aircraft maintenance, Air France-KLM reports. This unit owns a number of spare aircraft engines.
Air France-KLM was hit hard by the corona pandemic, which made international air travel virtually impossible for a while. Even after the lifting of the strictest restrictions for travelers, the company sold fewer tickets.
Due to the billions of losses, Air France-KLM has negative equity, which means that the company has more debt than the value of all its assets together. The group is trying to strengthen its equity again with new investments.
Earlier this week, Air France-KLM announced a major air freight deal with French container carrier CMA CGM. That company buys 9 percent of the shares of Air France-KLM, which also helps to increase its capital.
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