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Bloomberg
The French government unveiled a rescue plan for the struggling aerospace industry that includes billions of euros to support Airbus SE and its suppliers hard hit by the Covid-19 pandemic.
The measures, worth 15 billion euros ($17 billion), include export guarantees and credit relief for some new aircraft orders, as well as an extension of part-time work subsidies to help companies lower payroll costs, finance minister Bruno Le Maire said. The package also contains loan guarantees already extended to Air France-KLM, a moratorium on some airline loan reimbursements and orders for military aircraft.
The aid is aimed at bolstering the European planemaker and its constellation of hundreds of French suppliers that have been hammered by measures to contain the coronavirus. New orders have dried up and the grounding of planes has hurt the sale of equipment and services. The industry employs about 300,000 people in France and generates 58 billion euros in annual revenue.
“We must save our aerospace industry,†Le Maire said, adding that 100,000 jobs are under threat in the next six months and the sector’s recovery is likely to be very slow.
Airbus last week said it garnered no new orders and delivered just 24 new planes
in May. European carriers Deutsche Lufthansa AG and Air France-KLM are getting state bailouts worth billions of euros after air travel was reduced to practically nothing at the height of the pandemic.
Airbus, along with engine-maker Safran SA, Thales SA and Dassault Aviation SA, will contribute to a fund to help the small and medium-sized companies hardest hit by
the crisis.
While they have limited access to commercial bank funding, some are considered strategic because they are also defense suppliers.
Included in the package are 7 billion euros worth of loans and guarantees the government already extended to Air France-KLM.