The French government unveiled the 15 billion plan to revive the aeronautical sector on Tuesday morning. It was the Minister of Economy Bruno Le Maire, during a press conference, who specified the details of the aeronautical supply chain devastated by the crisis triggered by the Coronavirus. Supply chain in which Paris can boast giants such as Airbus, Safran, Dassault Aviation and Thales as well as the national airline Air France. Of the aid package, 1,5 billion will be allocated to the search for a green aircraft or a carbon-neutral aircraft to be built by 2035.
"We decree a state of emergency - said Bruno Le Maire - to save our aeronautical industry and to allow it to be more competitive and more decarbonised, producing the green aircraft of the future".
While a third of the 30.000 research and development jobs risk being canceled as a result of the crisis, the government's goal is to support research and development of the new generation of commercial aircraft, helicopters and business aircraft equipped with new propulsion systems low CO2 emissions such as "high dilution rate" hydrogen engines, it was explained during the press conference. According to the Minister of Ecological Transition Elisabeth Borse “this is an acceleration of 10 years compared to the initial objectives. This will allow us to set new world standards for environmentally sustainable aircraft.
Going into the details of the support measures, to accelerate the transformation of POIs and intermediate companies, the State and industries have agreed to create a new investment fund with an endowment of 500 million already this summer, to be raised up to 1 billion a term. The French government, through the publicly controlled Bpifrance, will inject 200 million, 100 million will be contributed by the fund manager (it will be selected on the basis of a public tender) and another 200 million will come from the industries involved, such as Airbus, Safran, Dassault Aviation and Thales. The Ministry of Defense will also do its part by accelerating orders for 600 million.
The aeronautical sector employs 300 thousand employees (both direct and indirect) in France. "If we hadn't intervened immediately, a third of the jobs in the aeronautical supply chain would have been cancelled," said Le Maire who also appealed to the industrialists to avoid exodus in any way possible.
The 15 billion package includes the 7 billion that Air France will receive in the form of direct transfers or state-guaranteed bank loans. Paris thus asks the state company to finalize the purchase of 60 Airbus A220s and 38 A350s which had already been foreseen in the industrial plan.
