Europe Starts Stumping Up Billions for Cash-Strapped Airlines

Government bailouts for the European airline industry are taking shape after France and the Netherlands pledged as much as 11 billion euros ($11.9 billion) to save Air France-KLM, and German rival Deutsche Lufthansa AG heads into a crucial week to work out a similar-sized rescue.

The lifelines to the region’s two biggest carriers by passenger traffic would come after each warned of impending cash crunches and their inability to survive the effects of the coronavirus pandemic without state help. They join a global chorus of distressed airlines that have grounded fleets, furloughed staff and decried the biggest crisis ever ...