Alaska Airlines is offering a handy way to be germ-free plus other relaxing remedies on board as part of Next-Level Care

From Alaska Airlines blog:

In travel, details make all the difference. As soon as COVID-19 hit, we quickly implemented over 100 ways to bring you peace of mind while traveling, including pre-travel wellness checks, requiring face coverings, disinfecting aircraft between flights and much, much more. So, when we set out to choose a partner for providing in-flight sanitizing hand wipes, we didn’t just settle for effectiveness. We asked: “Who can help make our guests’ experience more enjoyable?”

The answer? EO– the leading personal care brand that produces luxurious, pure, essential oil-infused hand sanitizer, body care and hand soaps in scents inspired by nature – facilitating meditative moments of self-care, anywhere and any time.

Starting Aug. 21, EO’s alcohol-based, relaxing French lavender-scented sanitizing wipes will be available to guests during beverage service on all Alaska and Horizon Air flights. Aside from being 99.9% effective against common germs, EO’s sanitizing wipes are created with sustainably-farmed organic ingredients and biodegradable bamboo cloth. Even better? EO is a zero-waste, B-corp and certified green business – a perfect match for Alaska’s industry leading environmental efforts.

We understand traveling during the “new normal” can feel overwhelming so we hope these thoughtful details make it feel more comfortable.

Here are more ways you can make your trip relaxing, comfortable and healthy:

Take a moment for mindfulness

We’re all coping with a lot of change right now. Taking a little time to re-center can do a world of good. We have just the thing. Through our partnership with Headspace, we offer free inflight meditation sessions. Just look for Headspace in our entertainment portal, breathe deeply and let the stress melt away.

And, think ahead about disinfecting supplies you’ll want along the way. Bringing a travel sized bottle of hand sanitizer is probably top of mind, and now TSA allows you to bring even more – one 12 oz. bottle is allowed in your carry-on until further notice.

American Airlines suspends service to 15 markets in October as CARES Act service commitment expires

American Airlines Group Inc. will adjust its October schedule to remove service to 15 markets as a result of low demand and the expiration of the air service requirements associated with the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act. This is the first step as American continues to evaluate its network and plans for additional schedule changes in the coming weeks.

These station suspensions will be effective October 7, 2020. For now, these changes are only in place for the October schedule period, which runs through November 3.

The airline will continue to re-assess plans for these and other markets as an extension of the Payroll Support Program remains under deliberation. The full, updated October schedule will be released August 29, and American anticipates releasing its updated November schedule by late-September.

The full list of suspensions is below and will be reflected on aa.com Aug. 29.

Service suspensions beginning October 7

City	Airport Code
Del Rio, Texas	DRT
Dubuque, Iowa	DBQ
Florence, S.C.	FLO
Greenville, N.C.	PGV
Huntington, W.Va.	HTS
Joplin, Mo.	JLN
Kalamazoo/Battle Creek, Mich.	AZO
Lake Charles, La.	LCH
New Haven, Conn.	HVN
New Windsor, N.Y.	SWF
Roswell, N.M.	ROW
Sioux City, Iowa	SUX
Springfield, Ill.	SPI
Stillwater, Okla.	SWO
Williamsport, Pa.	IPT

In other news, American is increasing the number of cargo-only flights in September:

When American Airlines relaunched cargo-only flights in March, its Cargo team started with 20 flights to two cities. This September, its cargo-only schedule will total more than 1,000 flights serving 32 destinations — doubling its cargo-only flying compared to August.

Since being reintroduced after a 35-year hiatus, these flights have helped the airline’s customers move more than 45 million pounds of critical goods around the world amidst the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak. But getting the first flight off the ground was nothing short of a symphony, played by team members from across the company.

“We didn’t have a playbook. We’d never done this before,” said Maulin Vakil, American’s Director of Cargo Customer Care. “We began to explore how much cargo we could take if we couldn’t transport passengers.”

Team members from the airline’s Cargo, Network Planning and Operations teams joined forces to write a new strategy. The plan would allow American Airlines Cargo to better serve its shippers despite a decreased passenger flight schedule resulting from the pandemic.

“We’re a passenger airline that also carries cargo, but the pandemic impacted that model,” said Chris Isaac, Director of Cargo Revenue Management at the time. “COVID-19 made parts of our passenger schedule unpredictable.”

After walking through dozens of what-if scenarios, team members discovered it would be possible to successfully fly regularly scheduled long-haul service with nothing but cargo in the aircraft’s belly. The first flight, however, would have to be planned with no stone unturned.

The final push to plan American’s first cargo-only service since 1984 came as the COVID-19 outbreak progressed and the vast majority of passenger air travel to Asia and Europe was suspended. On March 17 — four days after most air travel between the United States and Europe was paused — the team that had originally explored the possibility of cargo-only flying was called to put their plan in motion.

After exploring their options, the group began planning a cargo-only flight from Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) to Frankfurt (FRA) scheduled to take off on Friday, March 20.

While figuring out the safety, logistics and economics of the flight was a challenge, team members were prepared for the test. Crews were briefed, safety procedures were established and international rules were carefully followed.

Four days after the team set their plan into motion, American operated a Boeing 777-300 from DFW to FRA as its first cargo-only flight of the 21st century.

With the flight to FRA a success, American began operating cargo-only flights to Hong Kong (HKG) shortly after. A few weeks later, team members planned safe and efficient ways to serve Shanghai (PVG), Beijing (PEK) and Seoul (ICN). Many of these flights deliver PPE and medical supplies from Asia to U.S. soil, as well as mail, clothing and hard goods.

An idea that initially started as a few test flights has since flourished, quickly becoming a dependable service for Cargo customers as demand around the world continues to grow. This September, more than 1,000 scheduled cargo-only flights will be accompanied by more than 1,200 passenger flights also offering cargo services — giving Cargo customers access to more than 2,200 flights throughout the month.

Lufthansa and Vereinigung Cockpit agree on package of short-term crisis measures through the end of the year

Lufthansa made this announcement:

Pilots’ contributions through December: reduced top-up payments for short-time working compensation benefits, compensation adjustments, and reductions in pension benefits
In return, redundancies due to business operations (betriebsbedingte Kündigungen) in the second quarter 2021 at the earliest
Reconciliations of interests and social plans are still being negotiated
Agreement on long-term contributions by pilots urgently needed to limit the number of necessary redundancies

Lufthansa has concluded a short-term agreement with the pilots’ union Vereinigung Cockpit (VC) for initial measures to manage the coronavirus crisis. The measures apply to the pilots of Lufthansa, Lufthansa Cargo, Lufthansa Aviation Training and some of the Germanwings pilots.

Cost reductions through the end of 2020

The agreement includes cost reduction measures that will apply until the end of the year. Among other things, top-up payments for short-time working compensation benefits and employer contributions to the pension scheme will be reduced from September onwards. Collective wage increases negotiated for 2020 will be postponed until January 2021.

Redundancies due to business operations in the second quarter of 2021 at the earliest

Lufthansa will refrain from implementing redundancies due to business operations for the pilots of Lufthansa, Lufthansa Cargo, Lufthansa Aviation Training and certain of the Germanwings pilots until March 31, 2021. However, the significant overcapacity of pilots will last considerably beyond March 2021. The number of redundancies for operational reasons can therefore only be limited by concluding a long-term crisis agreement. In a long-term crisis package, the costs of the personnel surplus could, for example, be compensated for by a corresponding reduction in working hours and salary for the period of the crisis.

At the same time, Lufthansa has announced that for all German flight operations, it will refrain from hiring new pilots from outside the Group as long as there is an overcapacity of cockpit staff. This will also apply to the cockpit staffing of tourist-oriented flight operations – which will be open to pilots from Sun Express Deutschland and the German base of Brussels Airlines who flew tourist routes during the past few years.

Negotiations on the reconciliation of interests and on social plans will be continued with the respective cockpit staff representatives. This process is furthest along at Germanwings, where flight operations are not set to continue in light of the effects of the coronavirus pandemic.

The package of measures was approved by the Executive Board of Deutsche Lufthansa AG, the Air Transport Employers’ Association (Arbeitgeberverband Luftverkehr) and the VC committees and is effective immediately.

Wizz Air restarts flights to St. Petersburg from London Luton, expands in Vilnius

Wizz Air on August 19 restarted its London Luton flights to St Petersburg, as the only British carrier offering a direct connection from the UK to the Russian city.

Route	Operating Days	Launch Date	Fares From
London Luton – St Petersburg (Pulkovo Airport)	Wednesday, Friday	19 August 2020	£19.99

In other news, Wizz Air has also announced a massive expansion of its Lithuanian operations, adding one new Airbus A320ceo aircraft to the Vilnius base. This will enable the start of five new routes from Vilnius to Birmingham and Liverpool in United Kingdom, Hamburg in Germany, Stockholm Skavsta in Sweden, Trondheim in Norway. Two more routes will be launched from Tallinn to Trondheim and Oslo Sandefjord Torp in Norway.

WIZZ AIR’S NEWEST ROUTES:

DESTINATION	DAYS	STARTS	FARES FROM**
Vilnius – Birmingham	Tuesdays, Thursday, Saturday	22 October 2020	24.99 EUR
Vilnius – Hamburg	Thursday, Sunday	22 October 2020	24.99 EUR
Vilnius – Liverpool	Tuesday, Saturday	24 October 2020	24.99 EUR
Vilnius – Stockholm Skavsta	Tuesdays, Thursday, Saturday	22 October 2020	19.99 EUR
Vilnius – Trondheim	Tuesday, Saturday	24 October 2020	24.99 EUR
Tallinn – Trondheim	Tuesday, Saturday	24 October 2020	19.99 EUR
Tallinn – Oslo Sandefjord Torp	Monday, Wednesday, Friday	23 October 2020	24.99 EUR

QANTAS Group reports its yearly profit was down 91%

QANTAS Group made this announcement:

Underlying Profit Before Tax: $124 million (down 91%)
Statutory Loss Before Tax: $2.7 billion (majority of which is non-cash, including aircraft
write downs)
$4 billion revenue impact from COVID crisis in 2H20
Operating cash flow: $1.1 billion
Liquidity of $4.5 billion providing considerable buffer to manage uncertainty
Significant progress on initial steps of three-year recovery plan

In what has been the most challenging period in its long history, the Qantas Group reported a $124 million Underlying Profit Before Tax for the 12 months ended 30 June 2020, down 91 per cent on the prior year.

This reflects a strong first half of the year ($771 million Underlying Profit Before Tax) followed by a near total collapse in travel demand and a $4 billion drop in revenue in the second half[1] due to the COVID-19 crisis and associated border restrictions.

Fast action to radically cut costs and place much of the flying business into a form of hibernation helped minimise the financial impact from this extraordinary sequence of events. From April to end of June, Group revenue fell 82 per cent while cash costs were reduced by 75 per cent, helping to limit the drop in Underlying Profit Before Tax in 2H20 to $1.2 billion[2].

At the statutory level, the Group reported a $2.7 billion Loss Before Tax –– due mostly to a $1.4 billion non-cash write down of assets including the A380 fleet and $642 million in one-off redundancy and other costs as part of restructuring the business for recovery.

Despite significant uncertainty across most markets, the Group remains well positioned to take advantage of the eventual return of domestic and, ultimately, international travel demand. In the meantime, Qantas Freight and Qantas Loyalty continue to generate significant cashflow and charter operations for the resources sector are performing strongly.

CEO COMMENTARY

Qantas Group CEO Alan Joyce said the second half of FY20 was the toughest set of conditions the national carrier had faced in its 100 years – but that it had the resilience to deal with them.

“The impact of COVID on all airlines is clear. It’s devastating and it will be a question of survival for many. What makes Qantas different is that we entered this crisis with a strong balance sheet and we moved fast to put ourselves in a good position to wait for the recovery.

“We’ve had to make some very tough decisions in the past few months to guarantee our future. At least 6,000 of our people will leave the business through no fault of their own, and thousands more will be stood down for a long time.

“Recovery will take time and it will be choppy. We’ve already had setbacks with borders opening and then closing again. But we know that travel is at the top of people’s wish lists and that demand will return as soon as restrictions lift. That means we can get more of our people back to work.

“COVID is reshaping the competitive landscape and that presents a mix of challenges and opportunities for us. Most airlines will come through this crisis a lot leaner, which means we have to reinvent how we run parts of our business to succeed in a changed market.”

Mr Joyce said the FY20 result showed how the COVID crisis had derailed what would have been a strong financial performance.

“We were on track for another profit above $1 billion when this crisis struck. The fact that we still delivered a full year underlying profit shows how quickly we adjusted when revenue collapsed.

“Qantas Loyalty’s profit was down less than 10 per cent and member satisfaction increased in the fourth quarter, which shows the strength of that business. Qantas Freight has been a major beneficiary of the shift to people shopping online and our charter flying for resources companies is strong.

“COVID will continue to have a huge impact on our business and we’re expecting a significant underlying loss in FY21.

“Looking further ahead, we’re in a good position to ride out this storm and make the most of the recovery. Our market position is set to strengthen as the only Australian airline with a full service and low fares domestic offering as well as long haul international services,” added Mr Joyce.

GROUP DOMESTIC

A very strong performance by Group Domestic in the first half more than offset the 50 per cent drop in revenue in the second half caused by COVID-related restrictions.

Qantas Domestic achieved EBIT of $173 million while Jetstar’s domestic flying achieved EBIT of $112 million, including absorbing a $33 million impact of industrial action over the peak summer period.

Both Qantas and Jetstar demonstrated high levels of adaptability in responding to cascading domestic border restrictions – cutting costs and maximising limited revenue opportunities. This included launching new Qantas routes such as Sydney to Ballina and Orange, and redeploying A320s to meet resources sector demand in Western Australia.

A three-day Jetstar sale in June saw some 150,000 fares sold, reaching a record rate of 220 bookings per minute – demonstrating the latent demand for travel when borders do re-open.

As a result of the Group’s main domestic competitor significantly reducing its fleet and closing its low-cost carrier, the Group expects its market share to naturally grow from around 60 per cent to up to 70 per cent as the market recovers.

GROUP INTERNATIONAL

Qantas International made a $56 million profit for the year, driven largely by a record performance by Qantas Freight and a huge increase in e-commerce.

The Group’s regular scheduled international flights effectively ceased in April, replaced by over 100 services operated by Qantas on behalf of the Federal Government to cities including Hong Kong, London, Los Angles, Lima, Buenos Aires and Mumbai.

Jetstar’s international businesses moved into losses driven by border closures. Domestic flying in New Zealand was planning a return to near-full capacity by end-August but remains flexible given changing restrictions.

Jetstar Asia in Singapore is reducing its fleet and workforce by more than 25 per cent. Jetstar Japan was impacted by local lockdowns but resumed all domestic routes in July and is planning to operate 75 per cent of pre-COVID capacity in August.

In June, the Group announced its plans to exit Jetstar Pacific in Vietnam, of which it is a 30 per cent shareholder.

QANTAS LOYALTY

Qantas Loyalty achieved an underlying EBIT of $341 million – the largest single positive contribution to the Group’s FY20 profit and only 9 per cent lower than its result last year. The main reasons for this decline were lower earnings from travel-related products and a softening in consumer spending on credit cards.

Total Frequent Flyer membership increased by 4 per cent and membership of the Qantas Business Rewards program (aimed at small enterprises) increased by 20 per cent.

Despite limited opportunities to redeem points for travel, Frequent Flyer member satisfaction set a quarterly record in Q4. This is supported by engagement initiatives including automatic extension of tier status for 12 months; more opportunities to earn points on the ground, including with BP fuel (with more than 500,000 signing up for this part of the program) and Afterpay (with 55,000 members signing up to earn in the first four weeks); and a significant increase in reward seats on domestic flights.

Other new businesses, including retail, health insurance and car insurance, continued to diversify Loyalty’s earnings.

GOVERNMENT SUPPORT

The Group acknowledges the significant industry assistance provided by the Federal Government in response to COVID, reflecting the importance of aviation to the broader economy.

As one of the most heavily impacted companies, the Qantas Group collected $267 million in JobKeeper payments, the majority of which was paid directly to employees on stand down and the rest used to subsidise wages of those still working.

Qantas and Jetstar operated a series of domestic, regional and international flights on behalf of the Federal Government, as well as some freight services, to maintain critical links that had been made commercially unviable by travel restrictions. These flights were operated on a fee-for-service basis, with fare revenue offsetting the cost to the taxpayer.

To 30 June 2020, the total gross benefit of Government support was $515 million and the net benefit (after costs for flights operated) was $15 million.

The nature of ongoing industry assistance means the level of support received in FY21 will depend on the amount of flying activity.

SUPPORTING OUR CUSTOMERS

A number of customer initiatives were introduced during the year, including:

Launched the Fly Well program with range of measures (including masks, hand sanitising stations, changes to inflight service) to ensure a safe travel environment and give extra peace of mind.
Offered customers with new bookings the option to move flights with no change or cancellation fees.
Significantly increased flexibility for travel credits as well as providing refunds.

SUPPORTING OUR PEOPLE

In recognition of the significant impact of the COVID crisis on its people, the Group has put a variety of support mechanisms in place, including:

Working with other companies to connect people on stand down with secondary employment opportunities.
Offering a suite of support mechanisms, including financial counselling and psychological support.
Running weekly virtual town hall meetings to give updates and answer live questions.
Offering voluntary (rather than compulsory) redundancy wherever possible and providing large severance payouts for long-serving employees in particular.

FINANCIAL FRAMEWORK

The Group’s available liquidity was $4.5 billion at 30 June 2020, including $1 billion of undrawn facilities.

The Group successfully raised more than $1.4 billion through a fully underwritten institutional placement and retail Share Purchase Plan.

As at 30 June 2020, net debt was $4.7 billion and remains at the lower end of the target range. The Group has no major debt maturities until June 2021 and no financial covenants on debt.

Planned net capital expenditure was reduced by $400 million in the second half for a total of $1.6 billion for FY20. Significant further reductions are forecast in FY21 with the deferral of 787-9 and A321neo deliveries to meet the Group’s requirements.

FUEL HEDGING

The Group’s fuel consumption was fully hedged for the second half of FY20 and 90 per cent hedged for the first half of FY21 with significant participation to falling prices. Given the significant decline in flying activity from April 2020 and the anticipated decline in fuel consumption in FY21, the Group has recognised $571 million of de-designated hedge losses in the FY20 statutory result.

UPDATE ON RECOVERY PLAN

Implementation of the three-year recovery plan, announced in June 2020, is well underway. The plan will create a stronger platform for future profitability, long-term shareholder value and preserve as many jobs as possible.

Several key parts of the plan are complete or in progress, including:

Around 4,000 of at least 6,000 redundancies expected to be finalised by end-September 2020, with continued union consultation.
Ongoing stand down of around 20,000 employees, enabling retention of core skills until work returns.
Early retirement of the Boeing 747 fleet and more than 100 aircraft now in storage (in a state that significantly reduces the need for ongoing maintenance).
Raised $1.4 billion in equity in addition to the $1.75 billion of long term debt funding secured during the second half of FY20.

The plan targets $15 billion in benefits over three years from reduced activity, with $1 billion per annum in ongoing cost savings from FY23 through efficiency gains across the Group.

Recent developments in Victoria and the reimposition of some border restrictions in other parts of Australia are not expected to have a material impact on the delivery of the three-year plan.

OUTLOOK

The Group’s recovery plan allows for a high level of flexibility given uncertainty on border restrictions and travel demand, while also acknowledging the critical nature of air transport to the Australian economy. Key assumptions and indicators at this stage include:

Group Domestic

Given current border restrictions, 20 per cent of pre-COVID Group Domestic capacity is scheduled for August.
Recent sales activity shows high levels of latent travel demand when restrictions are eased.

Group International

International network unlikely to restart before July 2021; possibly earlier for Trans Tasman.

Loyalty

Expected to continue strong cash flow contribution in FY21.
Recovery in domestic travel an opportunity to increase reward seats and maintain member engagement.
Actively growing opportunity to earn points on the ground, but this is linked to broader consumer confidence levels.

Qantas Freight

Domestic demand expected to remain strong due to growth in e-commerce.
Strong international freight demand expected to continue but not at peak levels seen in 4Q20.

airBaltic and Airbus revise A220-300 delivery schedule to complete firm order in 2024

airBaltic and Airbus have signed an agreement on a revised Airbus A220-300 delivery schedule for the remaining 28 jets airBaltic has on order. It will complete the firm order of 50 Airbus A220-300 jets by early 2024.

The airline plans to receive three additional Airbus A220-300 aircraft by the end of 2020. airBaltic also holds options for an additional 30 aircraft of the same type.

airBaltic aircraft photo gallery:

airBaltic aircraft slide show:

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WestJet starts the disposal of its four Boeing 767-300s

WestJet always planned to replace its older Boeing 767-300 long-haul fleet with newer Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners.

The COVID-19 pandemic and dramatic drop of international travel demand accelerated the retirement in March 2020. WestJet operated its last 767 revenue flight on March 23, 2020.

Since then, the four Boeing 767-300s (C-FOGJ, C-FOGT, C-FWAD and C-GOGN) have been in storage, usually at the Calgary base.

The pictured C-FOGJ (top) departed from Calgary on August 19 bound eventually for Lake City, FL for storage and possible final disposal and parting out. The WestJet titles have been removed.

It is the end of an era at WestJet.

WestJet aircraft photo gallery:

WestJet aircraft slide show:

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Go2Sky to shut down at the end of the month

Go2Sky has made the difficult decision to cease all operations, another victim of Coronavirus (COVID-19) crisis in aviation. It was unable to survive given lower ACMI demand and lower charter rates. It was operating four Boeing 737-800s.

Go2Sky will cease all operations on September 1, 2020.

The company was founded in 2012, Go2Sky held an Air Operator Certificate (AOC) and Part 145 (line maintenance) approval issued by the Transport Authority of the Slovak Republic.

Go2Sky is a private Slovakian airline primarily providing ACMI (Aircraft, Crew, Maintenance, Insurance) services to other operators. Our fleet consists of single type Boeing 737-800 NG aircraft serving scheduled and charter flight demands worldwide.

Go2Sky aircraft photo gallery:

Go2Sky aircraft slide show:

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Video:

Enter Air orders two Boeing 737-8 MAX airplanes

Enter Air is expanding its commitment to the 737 family with a new order for two 737-8 airplanes plus options for two more jets.

An all-Boeing operator and Poland’s biggest charter carrier, Enter Air began operations in 2010 with a single 737 airplane. Today, the airline’s fleet includes 22 Next-Generation 737s and two 737 MAX airplanes. When the new purchase agreement is fully exercised, Enter Air’s 737 MAX fleet will rise to 10 aircraft.

“Despite the current crisis, it is important to think about the future. To that end, we have agreed to order additional 737-8 aircraft. Following the rigorous checks that the 737 MAX is undergoing, I am convinced it will be the best aircraft in the world for many years to come,” said Grzegorz Polaniecki, general director and board member, Enter Air.

Enter Air and Boeing have also finalized a settlement to address the commercial impacts stemming from the grounding of the 737 MAX fleet. While the details of the agreement are confidential, the compensation will be provided in a number of forms and staggered over a period of time.

FedEx Boeing 767-300F N146FE is damaged on landing at LAX

FedEx Express Boeing 767-300F N146FE operating cargo flight FX1026 from Newark to Los Angeles with two crew members made an emergency landing this morning on runway 25R after the crew determined the left main gear was not down and locked.

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