Air France cutting costs to offset Coronavirus impact: Internal letter

Air France is taking new cost-cutting measures, including a partial hiring freeze, to offset the impact of the coronavirus outbreak on the travel sector, according to an internal letter obtained by AFP.

The impact on airline passenger traffic from the COVID-19 virus “increased strongly since last week, with cancellations not only to China and Asia, but to destinations across our entire network,” Air France’s financial director, Steven Zaat, said in the letter to managers seen by AFP late Wednesday.

The letter said several of the company’s corporate clients had ordered their staff to cut back or eliminate travel.

“The consequences of these measures will necessarily influence our financial trajectory and could put us in a difficult cash flow position if we do not react immediately,” Zaan said in the letter, first reported by the French business daily Les Echos.