PARIS - The French government's financial support of Air France comes with the expectation that the airline keeps buying planes from Airbus, Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said on Wednesday.

The government offered the airline a 7 billion euro ($7.6 billion) package on Friday made up of state-guaranteed bank loans and loans directly from the state.

"If we are supporting Air France - I won't hide it - Air France must continue being a good customer for Airbus, which is also in difficulty,"," Le Maire told LCI television.

He added that the government could also support Airbus "massively when needed".

($1 = 0.9216 euros)

(Reporting by Sudip Kar-Gupta and Leigh Thomas; editing by Jason Neely) ((sudip.kargupta@thomsonreuters.com; +33 1 49 49 53 84;))