EU Commission approves more than EUR 106.7 million in funding to French airline Corsair Corsair

The French airline Corsair will be granted a total of EUR 106,7 million in restructuring aid and EUR 30,2 million in compensation, as the European Union has accepted these measures under the EU aid rules to help the business recover from the harm caused by the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic.

Although the first measure is intended to assist the restructuring of the organization, the second measure is intended to help the airline get out of the current pandemic crisis, the European Commission has reported, SchnegenVisaInfo.com reports.

In this respect, Margrethe Vestager, Executive Vice-President, stressed that the two separate initiatives would help the recovery of the airline from its financial difficulties caused by the pandemic.

The restructuring aid would allow Corsair to partially fund a restructuring plan to restore the company's profitability and help avoid disruption to passengers in the outermost regions of the EU. He pointed out that the second step would reimburse Corsair for the harm suffered due to the coronavirus outbreak that hit the aviation sector especially hard.

Corsair is a private French airline providing services to the French Antilles, Mauritius, Reunion, Côte d'Ivoire, Canada and the United States from Paris-Orly Airport.

During the last two years, the airline has faced major losses. The spread of the virus created other financial difficulties for the organization and prompted France to alert the Commission in November 2020 of the Corsair situation and to ask for aid.

"The restructuring aid amounts to EUR 106,7 million and consists of I EUR 21,9 million in tax deferrals, (ii) EUR 4,8 million in tax credits, (iii) EUR 18 million in soft loans and (iv) EUR 62 million in participating loans," reads the document.

A previous study by the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) stressed that, due to the coronavirus situation, France, along with the United Kingdom, Germany and Italy, will face the most severe losses in tourism revenue by the end of this year.

The World Travel and Tourism Council announced in September that, due to the shortage of visitors and passengers, France could lose a total of EUR 48 billion by the end of this year.

In August, the French Ministry of the Interior stressed that all internationals wishing to join France from countries deemed to be deeply affected by the spread of the virus would, upon entry, be required to show a negative Coronavirus test result.