The Dutch govt has taken a shareholding in Air France-KLM in an attempt to protect the country’s economic interests in the carrier, escalating tensions between Paris and The Hague. Wopke Hoekstra, Netherlands’ finance minister, announced that his govt had acquired a 12.68% stake in the Air France-KLM holding group in recent weeks and will aim to build a shareholding equal to the French state at 14.3%. Hoekstra said the govt had decided “direct involvement” was needed to steer the future of the airline after disputes arose between the Dutch and French carriers. The Dutch finance ministry said the stake would help the govt safeguard the thousands of jobs and investment made by Air France-KLM in Amsterdam Schiphol. <br/>
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Kenya may consider taking full ownership of its national carrier to effectively ward off competition from other state-owned airlines on the continent and from the Gulf, according to Transport principal secretary Esther Koimett. The East African state owns 48.9% of Kenya Airways after it converted debt into equity in 2017. The agreement diluted major shareholder Air France-KLM’s stake to 7.8% and brought in a consortium of banks under the name KQ Lenders 2017 Ltd., with 38.1%. “But that does not mean that it needs to remain this way,” Koimett told lawmakers in Nairobi. “We can create a path that leads it to a 100% ownership by the govt.” The main hurdle to that plan is outstanding loans, for which the carrier renegotiated repayment schedules, she told a parliamentary committee. <br/>
Aeroflot Group carried 4.2m passengers in January, up 14.5% year-over-year. Domestic traffic increased 14.2% to 2.3m; international traffic grew 15% to 1.9m. Aeroflot Airline carried 2.8m passengers in January, up 13.4% YOY. Domestic traffic reached 1.3m, up 17%; international traffic was 1.5m, up 10.3% YOY. Group RPKs increased 14.3% to 11.2b; airline RPKs reached 7.7b, up 9.6% YOY. Aeroflot Group passenger load factor decreased 1.4 points YOY to 75.9%. Airline load factor was 73.2% in January, down 1.8 points YOY. The group carried 19,912 tonnes of cargo and mail in January, down 6.9%; Aeroflot cargo and post were down 17.1% to 13,636 tonnes. As of Jan. 31, the group fleet had 367 aircraft, while Aeroflot Airline’s fleet comprised 253 aircraft. <br/>