PARIS, April 19 Reuters Air FranceKLM may seek to raise more capital to reduce debt and bolster its balance sheet as travel demand recovers from the pandemic later this year, Chief Executive Ben Smith said on Monday.

Smith, addressing an online industry event as a 1 billion euro 1.2 billion share issue by the airline group nears completion, signalled that it could move relatively quickly to raise more capital.

We do have heavy debt that is holding back our balance sheet, so this may have to get looked at again later in the year, he said, adding that Air FranceKLM currently plans to run at 50 capacity for the summer but still hopes to add more.

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Reporting by Laurence Frost, editing by Louise Heavens

Source Reuters