Talks between Air France-KLM and US investor Apollo about a 500 million euro capital injection are at an advanced stage. With this money, the airline group hopes to be able to repay part of its loans provided by the French government as emergency aid during the Corona crisis.

Apollo would like to put the money into a subsidiary of Air France for aircraft maintenance, according to an Air France report. This unit has a number of spare aircraft engines.

Air France-KLM has been hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic, making international air travel nearly impossible for some time. Even after the strict restrictions on travelers were lifted, the company sold fewer tickets.

Due to billions of losses, Air France-KLM has negative equity, which means that the company has more debt than the value of all its assets together. The group is trying to boost equity again with new investments.

Earlier this week, Air France KLM announced a major air freight deal with French carrier CMA CGM. That company buys 9% of the shares of Air France-KLM, which also helps to raise its capital.