“We are declaring a state of emergency to save our aeronautical industry to allow it to be more competitive” and “more decarbonized” by producing the “green plane” of tomorrow, said the minister.
The support plan for the aeronautical sector, hit hard by the coronavirus crisis, represents “a total effort of 15 billion euros from the nation”, announced Tuesday, June 9, the Minister of the Economy, Bruno Le Maire. “We are declaring a state of emergency to save our aviation industry to allow it to be more competitive” and “more decarbonated” by producing the“green plane“of tomorrow,” said the minister.
This sectoral recovery plan, the amount of which includes the financial assistance of seven billion euros already granted to Air France-KLM, includes two funds dedicated to supporting SMEs and mid-caps (mid-sized companies) in the sector: a fund investment with an initial endowment of 500 million euros this summer, which will reach one billion euros in the long term, to promote their development and a fund of 300 million euros for robotization and digitization.
The plan also provides for some 1.5 billion euros in public funding devoted over the next three years to research and development, with the aim of “achieve a carbon neutral aircraft in 2035”, said Bruno Le Maire. While nearly a third of 35,000 jobs dedicated to R&D in the aeronautics sector are called into question by the difficulties of the sector, the objective is to prepare the next generations of commercial aircraft, helicopters and airplanes. businesses with new modes of propulsion emitting less CO2.
In addition, the Ministry of the Armed Forces will anticipate this year orders for military aircraft which were planned for later, up to 600 million euros, or about 5% of its equipment budget, announced Minister Florence Parly.
These orders relate in particular to three Airbus A330s which will ultimately be transformed into supply aircraft (A330 MRTT), 8 Caracal maneuvering helicopters, a light surveillance and intelligence aircraft and drones intended for the Navy.
Some 200 million will also be spent by the Interior on the purchase of aircraft for the gendarmerie and civil security, while the budget of the fund in defense industry SMEs, named Definvest, will be increased from 50 to 100 million euros for the next five years.
The aeronautical sector represents 300,000 direct and indirect jobs in France. “If we had not intervened immediately, a third of the jobs in the sector would have disappeared”, said Bruno Le Maire, calling on industry to do everything “do to avoid forced departures”.
Beyond this plan, the aeronautical sector will also continue to benefit from non-specific measures implemented since the start of the crisis, such as loans guaranteed by the State, adjustments to partial unemployment schemes, as well as public guarantees. for export, for example.
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