The European Investment Bank (EIB) announces a loan for EUR 300 million(1) (FRF 2 billion) towards upgrading and enlarging Air France's passenger fleet, to be disbursed in line with the company's investment needs up to end-2001.
The funds will go towards the purchase of a number of aircraft in the Airbus 320 family, scheduled for phased delivery by the end of 2001 and for use on medium-haul routes.
The new Airbuses especially offer advantages for the environment in terms of very low noise and atmospheric pollution levels.
This financing operation confirms the long-standing partnership between Air France and the EIB.
The EIB, the European Union's long-term financing institution, contributes actively towards developing Europe's transport networks. Over the past five years, it has earmarked more than EUR 30 billion in support of a wide range of air, road, rail, shipping, urban and other transport infrastructure, EUR 3.5 billion of which has gone towards the air sector. All such EIB financing operations serve to improve links between European Union (EU) Member States, while loans targeted specifically at the EU's air transport sector help to sharpen the latter's competitiveness.
(1) 1 EUR: 6.55957 FRF, 0.621700 GBP.