French Transport Minister Jean-Baptiste Djebbari pushed back against the idea that indebted Air France should give up slots at Paris-Orly airport to win EC approval for more state aid. Any concessions should be tied to broader reforms to eliminate advantages that allow low-cost carriers to “distort the market,” Djebbari, a licensed pilot, said Thursday. EU regulators are asking Air France-KLM to yield slots at Paris Orly airport in exchange for a recapitalization of the struggling carrier. But President Emmanuel Macron’s government argues that abandoning some takeoff and landing rights at the hub closest to Paris would be a major competitive setback for the airline, which it considers a strategic asset. On Wednesday, Margrethe Vestager, the EU’s antitrust chief, warned that Lufthansa’s concessions in yielding slots at two airports in return for a German government stake now serve as a precedent for other cases. Under pressure from EU governments, Vestager has already relaxed rules to allow unprecedented subsidies help companies through the pandemic. Djebbari suggested Lufthansa’s slot reductions shouldn’t serve as a model, saying “we want something proportionate that addresses not only competition but the social reality of the sector.” He declined to put a number on the recapitalization of Air France, which like other airlines has been battered during the pandemic, saying only, “we are talking about billions.” Full recovery in the aviation sector is only expected within “the two or three next years,” the minister added.<br/>
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Airbus and Air France-KLM are joining airports operator Groupe ADP and other French entities to explore the use of hydrogen at Parisian airports. They are seeking projects focused on storage and distribution of gaseous and liquid hydrogen within airports, options for hydrogen recycling, and diverse uses of hydrogen in aeronautics – such as its application to ground operations and infrastructure energy supply. The aerospace organisations and the French capital, supported by governmental promotional agency Choose Paris Region, state that they intend to build a “unique” airport eco-system centred on hydrogen and establish the city’s airports as “hydrogen hubs”. These partners are jointly issuing a “worldwide call” for expressions of interest in the exploration of hydrogen and the transformation of airport infrastructure to take into account the emergence of hydrogen as a fuel. Selected projects, following the closure of a 19 March deadline, will be disclosed at the end of April.<br/>