The EU opens the door to state aid for Air France in the face of the devastating crisis that has hit the sector due to the Coronavirus pandemic. At the same time, the billionaire and American financial guru decided to get rid of the shares held in the four major US airlines: Delta, American Airlines, Southwests and United airlines.
France has therefore complied with the go-ahead to carry out all the necessary operations and support Air France with state aid for 7 billion euros to deal with the coronovirus emergency: the European Commission gave the go-ahead for the operation on Monday 4 May.
EU competition commissioner Margharete Vestager explained that the green light will make it possible to offer public guarantees for the collection of loans and also the disbursement of a loan directly by the public shareholder. All with the aim of providing the airline with the necessary liquidity “urgently”.
In the US, Buffet announced his new investment line at the annual meeting of Berkshire Hataway, the investment firm he founded. According to the poet of US finance, in fact, the pandemic has not only changed the situation of the air transport business but has modified it structurally. Now the future of the travel and tourism sector is much less clear, Buffet said, hence his decision to divest. Buffet also admitted that the shares of the four American carriers were the bulk of the 6,5 billion share sales that Berkshire made in April causing "losses on these companies and it was my mistake".
