Yearly Archives: 2020

Japan Airlines revises June 2020 international schedule in response to COVID-19

Japan Airlines (JAL) has announced revisions to its flight frequency plans for the month of June 2020. Based on the announced plan, JAL will reduce approximately 96% of its international services through June 30, 2020. Additional services for the current month of May 2020 have also been reduced as shown below.

While commercial passenger flights will be greatly reduced, the Company will continue to operate cargo-only flights on select routes to help keep business moving throughout the world. The Company sincerely apologizes for any inconvenience but would like to ask for our customer`s understanding during this unprecedented time.

Reduction of International Services // Applicable Dates: June 1 – June 30, 2020
JUN2020 Table.png

Reduction of International Services // Applicable Dates: May 1 – May 31, 2020
Additional services have been reduced on the following routes:
Europe – London
Southeast Asia – Bangkok, Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh, Manila
East Asia – Seoul Gimpo, Kaohsiung
MAY2020 Table.png

Operation of Cargo Flights
In order to respond to the cargo demand across the globe, JAL plans to operate cargo-only flights by utilizing passenger aircraft on routes to North America, Europe, Southeast Asia, East Asia and Oceania.

For full list of flights, refer to the attached document.
Schedules are valid as of May 14, 2020 and are subject to change.

Temporary Restrictions on Seat Assignments in Response to COVID-19

Thank you for flying with Japan Airlines.

In order to prevent the spread of the Coronavirus, the JAL Group has continued to reduce services on specific routes throughout the carrier`s network and to maintain a safe and secure environment for our customers, JAL has adopted additional measures as follows:

Seat Assignments to Practice Social Distancing

In order to provide customers peace of mind, JAL is preparing to add a temporary restriction on seat assignments to allow more personal space inside the aircraft cabin. As a result of this initiative, select seats will become unavailable to reserve and we ask for our customer`s understanding. In addition, to assure ample space between each passenger, please note that our representatives at the airport may ask you to change seats prior to your flight.

The above handling is not applicable to some aircraft and routes, First and Business class on international flights.

(Period)

Japan Domestic Flights : From April 29th to June 30th.
International Flights : From May 10th to June 30th.

We may extend or shorten the period depending on the situation.

Seat Map Display on JAL website

Japan Domestic Flights

Unavailable seats will be displayed as "Unselectable".

International Flights

Unavailable seats will be displayed as "Not available"

Boarding Process

Passengers will now be requested to wear a face mask when traveling on JAL Group flights. While we understand the need for travel, any customer feeling under the weather is asked to refrain from boarding the flight. If any symptoms appear, consult your physician prior to taking the flight.

Although these procedures may be inconvenient, we ask for your cooperation so that we can provide a safe and secure environment for our customers.

JAL aircraft photo gallery:

Delta’s summer schedule is 85 percent smaller than last year, with reductions of 80 percent in U.S. domestic capacity and 90 percent internationally

Delta Air Lines has made this announcement:

Delta’s summer schedule continues to be shaped by customer demand, CDC guidelines and government travel regulations. While the June schedule is significantly reduced in comparison to last year, customers will see the return of several major routes, both U.S. domestic and international, which were previously suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Customers traveling with Delta can feel confident in a safe flying experience. In addition to requiring customers and employees to wear face coveringsthroughout the travel journey, Delta has implemented policies like capping seating between 50 and 60 percent to ensure customer spacing on all aircraft, elevated its cleaning measures to deliver a new standard of clean, and streamlined its in-flight services to decrease touch points on board. Customers also have added flexibility if they need to change their plans.

Here’s a snapshot of where Delta is planning to fly in June. This schedule, including routes and frequency, remains subject to change due to the evolving nature of COVID-19. This page may be updated.

U.S. DOMESTIC

Ensuring connectivity for customers with critical travel needs, Delta continues to provide flights to all U.S. hubs and top markets, though frequency is significantly reduced. While Delta has temporarily consolidated operations in some markets served by multiple airports, the airline is adding more flights to its June schedule in comparison to May, primarily in Atlanta, New York and between hubs.

CANADA

Detroit to Montreal (daily)
Detroit to Ottawa (daily)
Detroit to Toronto (daily)
Minneapolis to Calgary (daily)
Minneapolis to Edmonton (daily)
Minneapolis to Winnipeg (daily)
New York-JFK to Toronto (daily)
Seattle to Vancouver (daily)

LATIN AMERICA & CARIBBEAN
Caribbean

Atlanta to Aruba (less than daily service restarts in second half of June)
Atlanta to Bermuda (less than daily)
Atlanta to Bonaire (Saturday only service restarts in second half of June)
Atlanta to Kingston, Jamaica (less than daily)
Atlanta to Montego Bay, Jamaica (daily)
Atlanta to Nassau, Bahamas (daily)
Atlanta to Providenciales, Turks and Caicos Islands (less than daily)
Atlanta to Punta Cana, Dominican Republic (less than daily)
Atlanta to San Juan, Puerto Rico (less than daily)
Atlanta to St. Croix (Saturday only)
Atlanta to St. Lucia (less than daily)
Atlanta to St. Maarten (less than daily)
Atlanta to St. Thomas (less than daily)
New York-JFK to Santiago, Dominican Republic (less than daily)
New York-JFK to San Juan, Puerto Rico (less than daily)
New York-JFK to Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic (less than daily)

Central America

Atlanta to Liberia, Costa Rica (less than daily service restarts in second half of June)
Atlanta to Panama City, Panama (less than daily)
Atlanta to San José, Costa Rica (less than daily service restarts in second half of June)
Atlanta to San Pedro Sula, Honduras (less than daily)
Atlanta to San Salvador, El Salvador (less than daily)

Mexico

Atlanta to Cancun (daily)
Atlanta to Mexico City (daily)
Detroit to Mexico City (less than daily)
Los Angeles to Los Cabos (less than daily)
Los Angeles to Puerto Vallarta (less than daily)
Salt Lake City to Mexico City (daily)

South America

Atlanta to Bogotá, Colombia (less than daily)
Atlanta to São Paulo, Brazil (less than daily)

TRANS-ATLANTIC

Atlanta to Amsterdam (daily)
Atlanta to Frankfurt (less than daily)
Atlanta to Lagos (less than daily*)
Atlanta to Paris-Charles De Gaulle (less than daily)
Detroit to Amsterdam (daily)
Detroit to London-Heathrow (less than daily)
New York-JFK to Amsterdam (less than daily)
New York-JFK to Paris-Charles De Gaulle (less than daily)
New York-JFK to Tel Aviv (less than daily)

*Delta’s restart of service to Nigeria is subject to foreign government approval.

Delta’s Frankfurt and London flights also double as scheduled cargo service. Learn more.

TRANS-PACIFIC

Detroit to Seoul-Incheon (daily)
Detroit to Shanghai (daily*)
Seattle to Seoul-Incheon (less than daily)
Seattle to Shanghai (daily*)
Seattle to Tokyo-Haneda (less than daily)

*Delta’s restart of passenger flights to China is subject to government approval. We will also operate cargo-only scheduled service from Shanghai to Atlanta and Los Angeles.

Delta’s second quarter schedule is 85 percent smaller than last year, with reductions of 80 percent in U.S. domestic capacity and 90 percent internationally.

Delta’s May schedule can be viewed here. We will continue evaluating the remainder of our summer service and adjust as needed.

Delta Air Lines aircraft photo gallery (Airbus):

Finnair adds frequencies and routes to its network, with long-haul routes beginning in July

Finnair has made this announcement:

From July, Finnair will gradually add frequencies and routes back to its network. Finnair will review its schedule on a monthly basis and will update it as travel restrictions are removed and demand starts to recover.

”We expect aviation to recover gradually, starting in July”, says Finnair Chief Commercial Officer Ole Orvér. ”Our intention is to operate approximately 30% of our normal amount of flights in July, and we will also start long-haul flights to our key Asian destinations. We will then add routes and frequencies month by month as demand recovers.”

Finnair will flexibly add flights as demand develops. The flight schedule will also take into account the changes in travel restrictions in different countries.

Long-haul operations start from Asia

Finnair’s long-haul operations will commence in phases from July, with strong focus on Asia, which is strategically important for Finnair. Finnair will fly to Beijing, Hong Kong, and Shanghai in Greater China (subject to government approval); to Nagoya, Osaka and Tokyo Narita in Japan; and to Singapore, Seoul and Bangkok. Long-haul operations are supported by the cargo demand. In August, Finnair will start flights to Delhi and to New York, and in November to Tokyo Haneda airport. Finnair also has flights to Miami, Krabi and Phuket during the winter holiday season.

European operations serve key cities

On European routes, Finnair will first focus on key centres, and will in July fly to Berlin, Brussels, Budapest, Copenhagen, Dublin, Düsseldorf, Edinburgh, Frankfurt, Gothenburg, Geneva, Hamburg, London, Malaga, Manchester, Moscow, Munich, Oslo, Paris, Prague, Riga, Tallinn, Stockholm, St Petersburg, Vilnius, Vienna and Zürich. In August Finnair will start flights to Barcelona, Milan, Madrid, Rome and Warsaw. During the summer holiday season Finnair will also operate individual flights to some of the holiday destinations in Southern Europe.

Domestic flying maintains key air connections

In July, Finnair will operate six domestic routes in Finland, flying to Kuopio, Mariehamn, Oulu, Rovaniemi, Turku and Vaasa. In August Finnair will start flying to Ivalo and Kittilä in the Finnish Lapland, and in September operations start to Kuusamo and Tampere. Finnair will not operate to Joensuu, Jyväskylä, Kajaani, Kemi or Kokkola during summer 2020. Decisions for these five destinations for winter 2020/2021 will be made later on, when there is more visibility to how the demand develops.

Flexibility for customers

Since March, Finnair has offered its customers extraordinary flexibility to change travel dates, and this continues. Customers can change their travel dates for all flights bought from Finnair’s own channels between 1 April and 30 June 2020 flexibly and travel within the ticket validity.

As Finnair publishes its flying schedule from July 2020 to end of March 2021, it is also cancelling those flights that will not be operating. Finnair will handle flight cancellations in phases, and customers will be contacted by the end of June about any cancelled flights they were booked onto.

A list of routes that Finnair will not operate during summer 2020 and winter 2020/2021 at all is available on Finnair’s Travel updates page.

Top Copyright Photo: Finnair Airbus A321-231 WL OH-LZH (msn 5803) ZRH (Andi Hiltl). Image: 950083.

Finnair aircraft photo gallery:

Finnair adds cargo capacity by removing seats from two Airbus A330 wide-body aircraft

Finnair has modified two Airbus A330 aircraft for cargo use by removing economy class seats from the cabin. This way the freight can be carried in the cabin in addition to the cargo hold.

With these changes, the cargo capacity of the aircraft up to doubles. The free cabin space will be used mainly for shipping supplies needed in the coronavirus pandemic.

In normal times, about half of the world’s freight is carried in passenger aircraft. Passenger traffic has recently dropped dramatically due to the Covid 19 pandemic, which has decreased the availability of cargo. As the global logistic network has become less accessible, there’s now increasing demand for urgent cargo shipments.

The Airbus A330 cabin is especially well suited for carrying lighter freight, as the loading happens through the regular doors. The cargo is secured in the cabin with cargo nets. About half of the existing capacity of the wide-body aircraft is already reserved for cargo below the cabin.

Finnair’s technical operations implemented the A330 modifications and removed the seats in fewer than two days. As the demand for passenger traffic increases, the planes can also be returned to passenger operations quickly.

In April and May, Finnair has been flying cargo to the large cities in China, Japan and Korea, as well as Tallinn and Brussels in Europe. Last week Finnair also started cargo flights to New York and Bangkok. Finnair is currently operating more than 50 one way cargo flights a week.

Ryanair full year profits up 13% to €1 billion for the full fiscal year, will Lauda survive?

Ryanair Holdings plc today (May 18) reported a full year profit of €1,002m (exclusive hedge ineffectiveness), compared to €885m last year. Highlights include:

Traffic grew 4% to 149m guests.
Revenue per guest rose 6% to €57 (2% higher fares & ancillary rev. up 16%).
Over 90% of flights arrived on-time (excl. ATC delays).
EU’s greenest, cleanest airline (66g CO₂ pax/km).
5 new bases & 390 new routes.
Malta Air became 4^th Group airline.
New digital platform launched with improved, personalised, guest offers.
Strong balance sheet & liquidity.

FY20 (IFRS) – Group*	31 Mar. 2019	31 Mar. 2020	Change
Guests	143.1m	148.6m	+4%
Load Factor	96%	95%	-1pt
Revenue	€7.69bn	€8.49bn	+10%
PAT	€885m	€1,002m	+13%
Gross cash	€3,195m	€3,808m	+19%

*excl. €353m except. hedge ineffectiveness charge

COVID-19 UPDATE:

Unlawful State Aid – to date

Lufthansa Group	€12.4bn plus
AF-KLM Group	€10.1bn plus
Alitalia	€ 3.5bn plus
TUI Group	€ 1.8bn plus
SAS	€ 0.8bn plus
Finnair	€ 0.7bn plus
Norwegian	€ 0.3bn plus

Most of Ryanair’s fleet was grounded from mid-March by EU Government flight bans and restrictions. These groundings reduced our March and full year traffic by over 5m guests and cut FY20 profits by over €40m. As updated on 1 May, Ryanair expects to operate less than 1% of its scheduled flying programme in Q1 (Apr. to June). Some return to flight services is expected in Q2 (July-Sept.) and Ryanair expects to carry no more than 50% of its original Q2 traffic target of 44.6m, as bookings will be impacted by public health restrictions (temperature checks and face coverings for passengers and staff) and quarantine requirements. When Group airlines return to scheduled flying from July, the competitive landscape in Europe will be distorted by unprecedented quantums of State Aid (in breach of EU rules) under which over €30bn has been gifted to the Lufthansa Group, Air France-KLM, Alitalia, SAS and Norwegian among others. We therefore expect that traffic on reduced flight schedules will be subject to significant price discounting, and below cost selling, from these flag carriers with huge State Aid war chests.

BUSINESS REVIEW (FY20):

Revenues

Sales grew 10% to €8.5bn. Scheduled Revenue, driven by 4% traffic growth to 149m and 2% higher fares, increased by 6% to €5.6bn. Covid-19 flight restrictions and aircraft groundings in the 2^nd half of March reduced traffic by over 5m in Q4. Ancillary Revenue rose by 20% to €2.9bn as more guests choose Priority Boarding and Preferred Seat services. In Oct., Ryanair Labs launched a new digital platform with improved, personalised, guest offers. This bedded down well in Q4, prior to Covid-19 groundings, with Labs focusing on improved penetration across core ancillary products.

Costs

Our fuel bill rose 14% (+€335m) to €2.8bn due to higher prices and 4% traffic growth. Ex-fuel unit costs were adversely impacted by a 48% drop in March traffic (-5.2m guests) due to Covid-19 groundings and, as a result, rose by 4% (ahead of the +2% guided). Higher staff costs (increased pilot pay & higher crew ratios as pilot resignations slowed to zero) and maintenance costs (older aircraft longer in the fleet due to the Boeing MAX delivery delays) were offset by falling EU261 costs (due to better on-time-performance) and lower route charges. The Group has recorded an exceptional €353m (net of tax) hedge ineffectiveness charge on FY21 fuel hedges (due to Covid-19 groundings), offset by favourable €/$ currency hedges for fuel & delayed capex.

Group Airlines

During FY20, the Ryanair Group continued to evolve. Buzz increased its fleet to 45 Boeing 737-800s and expanded outside Poland with new bases in Prague and Budapest.

Lauda underperformed in FY20 with fares lower than expected, due to intense price competition from Lufthansa subsidiaries in its core Austrian and German markets. FY20 traffic, however, grew to 6.4m at high load factors. In April, David O’Brien (former Ryanair CCO) joined the Lauda management team as Joint CEO.

Due to Covid-19 restrictions, the Lauda fleet has been grounded since March 17. With costs running ahead of other Group airlines and Lauda’s main competitor, Austrian Airlines, expected to receive an €800m State Aid bailout, Lauda has had to completely rethink its strategy and significantly lower its growth plans. Its management team are implementing restructuring and cost cutting plans and are currently in discussions with its people and its unions in relation to staff savings to secure the future of its Vienna A320 base. Failure to agree meaningful cost reductions on May 20 will result in the Vienna A320 base being closed on May 30 with over 300 job losses. Lauda has already abandoned plans to operate a base in Zadar for the Ryanair Group.

Malta Air, which became the 4^th Group airline last summer, grew strongly in FY20. With a fleet of almost 120 aircraft, it has taken over the Group’s French, German, Italian and Maltese bases. Like Buzz, Lauda and Ryanair DAC, it is also reviewing all areas of its cost base so that it remains competitive in its core markets where it will compete against government bailed out legacy carriers.

Ryanair DAC performed well in FY20 and opened new markets in Armenia, Georgia and Lebanon. Its fleet, however, has dropped to 275 Boeing 737-800s as both Buzz and Malta Air took over flight operations for the Group. Punctuality improved to over 90% (excl. ATC delays) thanks to Ryanair’s investment in new handling arrangements in Stansted, Poland and Spain. In Sept., Eddie Wilson was appointed as Ryanair DAC’s CEO.

Boeing MAX update

It is over a year since the Group was due to take delivery of its first Boeing 737 MAX 200 aircraft. Boeing are currently guiding a late summer return to service in the US for the Boeing 737 MAX. We believe it will be at least October before we receive our first MAX 200 aircraft. We remain fans of, and committed to, these “gamechanger” aircraft with 4% more seats & 16% lower fuel burn, which will transform Ryanair’s cost base for the next decade. We are currently reviewing short-term growth plans and are in active negotiations with both Boeing and Lauda’s A320 lessors to reduce planned deliveries over the next 24 months to reflect slower traffic growth post Covid-19 in 2020 & 2021.

Balance Sheet & Liquidity

Ryanair’s balance sheet is one of the strongest in the industry with a current cash balance of €4.1bn (Ryanair recently raised £600m under the UK’s CCFF) and 330 unencumbered Boeing 737s (77% of owned fleet). Since mid-March, the Group has implemented a series of measures to preserve cash, cut costs, cancel share buybacks and defer operating and non-essential capex spending. As a result, average weekly cash burn has dropped from approx. €200m in March to just over €60m in May. This liquidity will enable the Group to weather Covid-19 and emerge stronger when the crisis passes. Our focus will remain on cash preservation/generation and the repayment of maturing debt over the next 24 months.

ESG UPDATE:

Europe’s Greenest, Cleanest Airline

The future of our planet is of vital importance to our customers and all our people. Ryanair has the lowest carbon emissions of any major EU airline at just 66 grams of CO₂ per passenger km. Passengers switching to Ryanair can halve their CO₂ emissions compared to other major EU airlines. Ryanair operates the youngest fleet, with the highest load factors, and newer more fuel-efficient engines. During FY20, Ryanair launched a new Environmental Policy and appointed a director of sustainability to oversee its implementation.

Senior Board Changes

On June 1 Stan McCarty will succeed David Bonderman as Chairman of the Board and Louise Phelan will replace Kyran McLaughlin as Senior Independent Director. Both David and Kyran will step down from the Board on May 31 and we thank them both for their long service and wise counsel. Ryanair’s new Chairman plans to refresh various Board Committees before the Sept. AGM.

OUTLOOK:

FY21 will be difficult for the Ryanair Group as its airlines work hard to return to scheduled flying following the Covid-19 crisis. Unlike many flag carrier competitors, Ryanair will not request or receive State Aid. Consultations about base closures, pay cuts of up to 20%, unpaid leave and up to 3,000 job cuts (mainly pilots and cabin crew) are under way with our people and our unions. Our Commercial team are also in active discussions with our airport partners regarding S.20, and beyond, capacity allocations. Given the uncertainty over the impact and duration of the Covid-19 pandemic, coupled with no visibility on what customer behaviour and demand will be following a return to service, Ryanair cannot provide FY21 PAT guidance at this time. The Group expects to record a loss of over €200m in Q1, with a smaller loss expected in Q2 (peak summer) due to a substantial decline in traffic and pricing from Covid-19 groundings. The Group currently expects to carry less than 80m passengers in FY21 (almost 50% below its original 154m target). Ryanair’s return to scheduled flying will be rendered significantly more difficult by competing with flag carrier airlines who will be financing below cost selling with the benefit of over €30bn in unlawful State Aid, in breach of both EU State Aid and competition rules.

As we look beyond the next year, there will be significant opportunities for Ryanair’s low cost, growth model as competitors shrink, fail or are acquired by government bailed out carriers.

Ryanair aircraft photo gallery:

El Al reports a net loss of $60 million in 2019

El Al Israel Airlines has issued this financial statement:

In 2019, El Al was in the midst of a major upheaval in its aircraft fleet: The Company completed the removal of old fleets, received 14 Dreamliner aircraft and completed the interior improvement of its narrow-body aircraft fleet.

Notwithstanding the fierce competition, the Company succeeded in increasing its revenues by approximately 2%, to USD $2.18 billion.
The number of passengers flown by the Company grew by approx. 4%.
Operating expenses decreased by about 1% to approximately USD $1.83 billion.
Fuel expenses decreased by approx. USD $44 million as a result of the drop in fuel price and a decline in the amount of fuel consumed, despite the growth in operations, due to the efficiency of the Dreamliner aircraft.
The initial implementation of IFRS 16 adversely impacted the profit before tax by approx. USD $18 million.
Net loss in 2019 amounted to approx. USD $60 million, compared to approx. USD $52 million in 2018.
Cash flow generated by the Company from operating activities in 2019 amounted to approx. USD $294 million, indicating a growth of approx. USD $203 million compared to cash flow in 2018.
As of December 31, 2019, the cash balance in the Company’s account amounted to approx. USD $264 million.

The global outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic, which, since the beginning of 2020, has had a material adverse impact on the global economy in general and the aviation industry in particular, abruptly stopped the momentum of activities of the Company, which was among the first to be hit by the crisis.

The pandemic led to a sharp decline in demand for passenger flights and resulted in a significant number of flight cancellations in February and March 2020 up to a complete cessation of passenger flights, in view of the government guidance on self-isolation, that caused the loss of substantially all of the Company’s revenues and created a liquidity problem for the Company.

The economic crisis was accompanied by a sharp decline in demand for oil that led to a drop in the fuel price and interest rates worldwide. Having performed jet fuel and interest hedging transactions, the drop generated losses to the Company, which was required to provide deposits in significant amounts to be used as collateral, thus aggravating the damage to its cash flow.

Due to the flight cancellations, the Company is required to make refunds to customers on a material scale.

To allow the Company to cope with the implications of the coronavirus crisis and immediately reduce the cash expenditure, the Company is currently implementing a series of streamlining measures:

Significant cut in the Company’s workforce – more than 90% of the Company’s employees are on an unpaid leave.
Reduction in executive and board members compensation by 20%.
Operational and financial activities aimed to reduce the Company’s expenses, including: agreed deferral of lease payments for some of the leased aircraft; cancellation of lease agreements of two 737-800 aircraft, that were expected to enter service in 2020, and the return of three wet-leased aircraft to the lessors.
Suspension or cancellation of projects involving investments.
Conversion of passenger aircraft for cargo operations.
Partial release of NIS 105 million from the surplus of central compensation funds established as part of the Company’s privatization.
Signing of a memorandum of understanding with a foreign company for the Sale and Lease Back of three 737-800 Boeing aircraft for approximately USD $76 million.

The Company is conducting negotiations with lenders and with the Ministry of Finance to obtain a loan of USD $400 million, most of which will be backed by a state guarantee.

Given the uncertainty over the completion of said assistance, which is essential to allow the Company to address the consequences of the crisis at this stage, the Company estimates that there are significant doubts about its continued existence as a going concern.

El Al’s CEO, Gonen Usishkin:

“El Al is one of the Israeli economy’s most significant corporate casualties from the coronavirus crisis, and for this reason we asked the Israeli government to assist El Al as most countries in the world have done. In the last two months the Company’s management team has been working around the clock to implement a series of operational and financial measures aimed to reduce the Company’s expenses, maintain its liquidity and allow it to operate. The Company had to halt its main operations, i.e. passenger carriage, in view of the government guidance, and it uses the wide-body passenger aircraft along with the cargo aircraft for extensive cargo operations. We established a streamlining program to allow the Company to operate in the coming years and return to profitability; however, these measures will not be sufficient without the Israeli government support.”

El Al’s CFO, Dganit Palti:

“We completed 2019 with an increase in revenue and gross profit. The Company reported a loss of approximately USD $60 million, which was also affected by the initial implementation of a new accounting standard. However, notwithstanding the loss, the Company generated unprecedented cash flow from operating activities totaling USD $294 million and completed the year with high cash balances of USD $264 million in its account. In view of the impact of the global crisis that paralyzed the aviation industry, El Al’s passenger operations have stopped, and it found itself in a serious cash flow crisis. The Company took many steps to improve its liquidity, mainly by sharply reducing its expenses and suspending investments. Concurrently therewith, we carried out financial transactions to improve the Company’s liquidity, inter alia, sale and lease back of three aircraft. We established a business plan containing profound streamlining measures that are currently in the process of implementation, and we expect the state’s decision to provide a guarantee for a USD 400 million bank loan, that will allow the Company to return to growth and profitability.”

El Al aircraft photo gallery:

Zoom is now worth more than the world’s 7 biggest airlines

Times have certainly changed. From Visual Capitalist. Read the full story.

Propeller Airports to close Paine Field terminal until August 1

Propeller Airports has announced it will close the Paine Field terminal until August 1. All passenger services will be suspended from May 22 through July 31.

The company will use the closure time to complete aircraft ramp maintenance and repairs.

Previously Alaska Airlines had announced it was reducing service at PAE to just one flight a day due to low demand.

Ryanair announces over 250 jobs lost at its Dublin, London Stansted, Madrid and Wroclaw offices due to COVID-19 groundings

Ryanair confirmed it has reduced its office head count in Dublin, London Stansted, Madrid and Wroclaw by over 250 through a combination of probation/fixed term contract ends, resignations and redundancies, as these people will not be required to return to work on June 1, 2020, when the Ryanair offices reopen, due to the substantial decline in traffic the Ryanair Group Airlines is facing in 2020.

Ryanair Airlines have operated less than 1% of their normal flight schedules during April, May and June, and this week announced that only 40% of its normal schedules would operate in July 2020. For the full year, Ryanair now expects to carry less than 100 million passengers, over 35% lower than the 155 million + target for the year ended March 2021.

Ryanair’s People Director Darrell Hughes said:

“This is a very painful time for Ryanair, our crews and our people supporting operations from our Dublin, Stansted, Madrid and Wroclaw offices. While we expect to re-open our offices from 1 June next, we will not require the same number of support team members in a year when we will carry less than 100m passengers, against an original budget of 155m.

Regrettably, we will now have a small number of compulsory redundancies in Dublin, Stansted, Madrid and Wroclaw to right size our support teams for a year when we will carry less than 100m passengers due to the Covid-19 crisis. These job losses were communicated to individual team members this week, and they will not be returning to work in our Dublin, Stansted, Madrid or Wroclaw offices when they reopen on 1 June next.

We are continuing to meet our pilot and cabin crew unions across Europe to finalise up to 3,000 job cuts and 20% pay cuts as we return to approx. 40% of our normal flight schedules from July onwards. Ryanair is also facing intense price competition across Europe as we are forced to compete with flag carrier airlines who have received over €30bn in unlawful State Aid subsidies from their Governments, and who will be able to engage in below low cost selling for many years with the benefit of this illegal State Aid.

Further announcements on Ryanair crew job losses and pay cuts are expected before the end of May in the light of further and on-going flight restrictions”.

Below Copyright Photo: Rainer Bexten. Ryanair aircraft (and others) in storage at Hahn, near Frankfurt.

French bee sets a new record for the longest flight

French bee made this announcement:

French bee, sister French airline of Air Caraïbes and a subsidiary company of the Dubreuil Group, is proud to announce that it has made the longest nonstop domestic commercial flight between Tahiti-Faa’a and Paris-Orly with one of its new generation Airbus A350-900s. The A350-900, registration F-HREY, took off from Tahiti-Faaa International Airport at 10.51am on Thursday, May 14, 2020 and landed at Orly at 3:40pm LT on Friday, May 15, 2020. The flight time was 16:49 hours, to cover a route of more than 16,129 kilometers.

Previously on Tuesday, May 12, 2020, the aircraft had carried out a cargo-only flight from Orly to Tahiti-Faa’a with a stopover in Pointe-à-Pitre (Guadeloupe). The flight carried 20 tons of medical supplies for French Polynesia. This flight, managed by Hiline Cargo, a specialized subsidiary of the Dubreuil Aéro Group, was loaded by SIFA Logistics.

“The flight was carried out under standard performance conditions of the Airbus A350, with an average altitude of 12,500 meters, at a speed of 940 km/h. The A350’s fuel consumption qualities, 25% less than a conventional long-haul aircraft, enabled it to cross these 16,129 kilometers. “Explains, Ludovic André, Director of Air Operations and Chief Pilot of French bee.