02 october 2020
07:04
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The Dutch airline KLM has reached an agreement with the unions on a substantial savings plan. That paves the way for more than 3 billion euros in government aid.
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KLM is one step closer to the rescue. The Dutch airline KLM
reached an agreement on substantial savings with the unions of both the pilots and the cabin and ground staff on Thursday.
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The agreement came just in time. KLM had to submit a package of savings plans to the Dutch government by Thursday at the latest. The recovery plan was a condition for the 3.4 billion euros in aid that the government promised to KLM in the form of loans and credit guarantees.
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Deadline
Minister of Finance Wopke Hoekstra (CDA), who has yet to approve the savings plan, emphasized the deadline on Thursday morning. If the staff did not agree to wage sacrifices and layoffs, the minister said bankruptcy was the only other option.
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The plan was completed three hours before the deadline. KLM agreed with the unions that, in some cases, some of the staff must hand in up to 20 percent. Especially the well-paid pilots had to back down. Minister Hoekstra demanded that the strongest shoulders should bear the heaviest loads.
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The airline also has to lay off thousands of employees. In July, KLM spoke about 4,500 to 5,000 of the approximately 33,000 jobs that will be lost.
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Air France
Just like Brussels Airlines, which received 290 million euros in state aid, KLM is suffering badly from the corona pandemic, which caused air traffic to collapse. In September, KLM flew in Europe at 57 percent of last year’s capacity. The plan to increase the number of flights within Europe was canceled due to the many negative travel advice.
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Het Financieele Dagblad expects that the parent company Air France-KLM will also need a capital increase in the long term, in addition to the promised billions in support. Hoekstra is already talking about this behind the scenes with his French colleague Bruno Le Maire. The Netherlands and France are the main shareholders in the aviation group. The French government granted Air France-KLM, which made a loss of 4.4 billion euros in the first half of the year, a few months ago already 7 billion euros.
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