Covid-19 deals Air France-KLM record €7.1bn loss

Air France-KLM has said the coronavirus pandemic severely impacted its 2020 earnings, pushing it deep into a net loss of 7.1 billion euros. The previous year, the airline had booked bottom-line profit of 290 million euros.

"2020 tested the Air France-KLM group with the most severe crisis ever experienced by the air transport industry," chief executive Benjamin Smith said in a statement.

The airline said group revenues plunged by nearly 60 percent to 11.1 billion euros as passenger numbers plummeted 67 percent to 28.8 million. Furthermore, there was no sign of an immediate improvement for the sector.

"After a positive Christmas...travel restrictions were tightened in France, the Netherlands and worldwide, having a negative impact on traffic in the first quarter of 2021," the group said in a statement. "Due to the lockdown and travel restrictions still in place, the group anticipates a challenging first quarter of 2021."

In February, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) released a report stating that global air passenger traffic plunged by an unprecedented 66 percent in 2020 owing to travel restrictions imposed during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Moreover, it also warned that new, more transmissible variants of the coronavirus could hurt prospects of a recovery this year.

Airbus limits loss

European aircraft giant Airbus said it booked a net loss of 1.1 billion euros in 2020.

Airbus said it was able to limit its losses last year, even as the airline sector collapsed in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.

That was a slight improvement over the previous year's bottom-line loss of 1.4 billion euros, when Airbus was hit with a huge fine of 3.6 billion euros in a corruption scandal.

The company's fierce US rival Boeing had a massive loss of $11.9 billion last year as the Covid-19 crisis played out, combined with getting its key 737 MAX aircraft back in the air.

"The 2020 results demonstrate the resilience of Airbus in the most challenging crisis to hit the aerospace industry," said chief executive Guillaume Faury.

Group revenues plunged to 49.9 billion euros from 70.5 billion euros a year earlier. "Driven by the difficult market environment impacting the commercial aircraft business with 34 percent fewer deliveries year-on-year," Airbus said.

A total of 566 commercial aircraft were delivered, comprising 38 A220s, 446 A320s, 19 A330s, 59 A350s and four A380s, compared with 863 aircraft in 2019.

Airbus said it saw no immediate improvement for the industry's prospects for now.

"Many uncertainties remain for our industry in 2021 as the pandemic continues to impact lives, economies and societies," Faury said.

(AFP)