Delta donates 1 million pounds of food (and counting) to communities around world

Delta Air Lines made this announcement:

The COVID-19 crisis has created a number of opportunities for Delta people to make a difference in the communities where we live and work. Since Delta has temporarily adjusted services on board and in Delta Sky Clubs, we have donated food and other provisions from warehouses around the globe to hospitals, schools, food banks and other organizations.

Total donations so far recently exceeded 1 million pounds, and the effort is still ongoing.

Elaine Schlaeger, Manager – Catering Operations, is one of many Delta people helping to distribute food to their local communities. “My daughter is a nurse in the New York Area Hospital, so this really hits home for me. Throughout this pandemic our healthcare workers are putting their lives at risk every day to save others,” said Elaine. “Being a part of a company that is helping healthcare workers and so many others in need around the world with food donations is really touching, and I am glad to be a part of it.”

Delta is donating food and beverages that would otherwise go unused and the number of donations increases each day. Delta is also donating food service items like utensils, bowls, napkins and packaging materials.

“We are so proud of our people who have seen the needs in communities around the world and acted with the resources Delta has to offer. That is what we like to call the Delta spirit,” said Allison Ausband, Senior Vice President – In-Flight Service. “Especially during the ongoing pandemic, we see our people going above and beyond the call of duty to serve others. One million pounds of food is astounding, and we will continue to give as long as we have resources to do so.”

Delta is working with longstanding U.S. partners including Feeding America, whose local organizations are distributing food to those in need. The airline has also developed new relationships with local organizations and chefs in communities seeing a significant need for food resources.

Internationally, Delta teams are similarly helping the communities in which they work, live and serve. In the Philippines, Delta donated more than 39,000 packs of snacks, 25,000 drinks, almost 5,000 packages of coffee and 600 packages of tea to COVID-19 frontline workers and first responders. Delta has also made donations in Senegal, South Africa, Brazil, Argentina, El Salvador, Peru, Japan, Greece, Spain, France, Netherlands and the U.K.

Donating food is one of many ways Delta teams are demonstrating the indomitable Delta spirit during the ongoing pandemic. In April, Delta started providing free flights to medical professionals on the front lines of the COVID-19 crisis. Delta TechOps and Delta Flight Products will also deliver up to 76 rapidly deployable pods to help military troops infected with COVID-19 return home. Additionally, Delta manufactured a total of 70,000 face shields to help protect hospital workers utilizing Delta’s wholly owned aircraft interiors subsidiary.

Qatar Airways global network increases to more than 270 weekly flights to over 45 destinations

Qatar Airways has made this announcement:

The national carrier of the State of Qatar continues to maintain its position as the largest international carrier in the world, operating over 270 weekly flights to more than 45 destinations. The airline’s gradual rebuilding of its network continues with flights resuming in the past week to the following destinations:

Budapest (three weekly flights started 15 June)
Dar es Salaam (three weekly flights started 16 June)
Dhaka (three weekly flights started 15 June)
Istanbul (daily flights started 13 June)
New York (flights started 19 June, daily from 22 June and 10 weekly from 2 July)

As entry restrictions ease around the world, the carrier is also seeing a rise in bookings due to the strong levels of trust built with passengers as it took home over 1.8 million people safely and reliably during this crisis including many left stranded by other airlines. With demand steadily rising, Qatar Airways has increased frequencies to the following destinations in the past week:

Athens (increased from three weekly to daily flights)
Dallas-Fort Worth (increased from three weekly to daily flights)
Dublin (increased from five weekly to daily flights)
Islamabad (now operating double daily flights)
Jakarta (increased from four weekly to daily flights)
Karachi (now operating double daily flights)
Lahore (now operating double daily flights)
Milan (increased from five weekly to daily flights)
Rome (increased from six weekly to daily flights)
Singapore (increasing from three weekly to daily flights)

The national carrier of the State of Qatar also continues to operate daily flights to many key global destinations including Amsterdam, London Heathrow, Melbourne, Seoul, Sydney, Tokyo and Zurich offering a resilient network that is designed for strong connectivity.

Emirates to fly A380 to London Heathrow and Paris, adds Dhaka and Munich to network

Emirates has made this announcement:

The highly popular Emirates Airbus A380 aircraft will begin serving travelers on flights to London Heathrow and Paris starting on July 15, 2020. This marks the return of Emirates’ flagship aircraft on scheduled services since the pandemic forced the temporary grounding of the airline’s passenger fleet in March.

In addition, Emirates has announced that it will commence flights for travelers to Dhaka (from June 24), and Munich (from July 15), adding to its growing network.

This follows the announcement earlier in the week, that Dubai will re-open to business and leisure visitors from July 7, with new air travel protocols that facilitate travel for UAE citizens, residents and tourists while safeguarding the health and safety of travelers and communities.

Flights to Dhaka and Munich will be operated with an Emirates Boeing 777-300ER aircraft.

Lufthansa shuts down SunExpress Deutschland

Lufthansa on June 23, 2020 announced SunExpress Deutschland will cease operations on June 26, 2020 and the assets will be liquidated.

The German airline is a subsidiary of SunExpress Airlines of Turkey, which is a joint-venture of Turkish Airlines and Lufthansa.

Air Belgium reports positive results for 2019, announces new routes

Air Belgium has announced positive results for the year of 2019 along with its future destinations and new services for travelers, as well as the upcoming resumption of its regular flights to the French West Indies.

1. 2019 financial results and trends for 2020

2019 was marked by a major turnaround year with a well-deserved positive result. After a first complicated 2019 trimester, the actions undertaken as well as the reorientation and diversification of its activities, enabled the Company to end the year 2019 with a pre-tax profit of €5.6 M and a sales revenue of €62.5 M. This trend was confirmed in the first quarter of 2020 with a 50% increase in turnover during the same period of the preceding year.

Although Air Belgium is facing the worldwide COVID-19 crisis, its aircraft have never been grounded and have continued to operate commercial activities from Brussels and Liège Airports. To date Air Belgium employs more than 350 people, has not made any layoffs, and does not foresee any. The Company is making every effort possible to recover and to move forward.

Winter Season 2019-2020

The launch of new scheduled flights between Belgium and the French West Indies got off to a very encouraging start. This new route responded to a real market expectation. An historical increase of 80% on the market size to Martinique and Guadeloupe was therefore observed.

Belgian customers represent 65% of the Air Belgium passengers to the French West Indies followed by France and Luxemburg with 25%. Jointly, the Netherlands and Germany constitute the remaining 10%. This success confirms and validates the strategic choice of Brussels Charleroi Airport for this market.

Summer Season 2020

Continued flights for the summer season of 2020 was looking up until the COVID-19 crisis forced to suspend flights.

Nonetheless, reservations for summer are fruitful and since the end of the lockdown a very encouraging upturn of bookings for the Caribbean is observed. Half of these new bookings are for the period of July and August and the other half for the 2020 winter season. Demands remain strong and the number of potential travellers is very high.

Since a few weeks already, Air Belgium is definitely and resolutely ready to resume its regular flights to the French West Indies. The recent decisions of the French Authorities have unfortunately forced to postpone the first flight to July 15^th, 2020. Air Belgium is feeling concerned by the situation and would like an immediate restart of its operations.

The airline had anticipated the resumption of its flights and put in place a series of health measures to protect its passengers and staff and to give everyone including the Authorities all guarantees of prevention. Onboard Service is also temporarily modified to ensure an optimal level of safety.

The summer schedule for flights to Guadeloupe and Martinique planned for July 15^th, remains in line with the schedule operated before the COVID-19 crisis. Departures from Brussels Charleroi Airport are every Wednesday and Saturday and taking off at 10:45 AM local time.

2. Opening of new routes leading to new destinations

Winter Season 2020

French West Indies: Expansion continues

As of November 20^th, 2020, Air Belgium will double its flights frequency. In regards to the market interest and positive results since the launch in December 2019, the airline completes and broadens its offer by operating direct flights to and from Fort-de-France and Pointe-à-Pitre. Flight schedules are as follows: direct flights to Pointe-à-Pitre in Guadeloupe, every Tuesday and Friday; direct flights to Fort-de-France in Martinique, every Wednesday and Saturday.

The signing of a commercial agreement with Air Caraïbes opens the doors of Saint-Lucia and Saint-Martin

Air Belgium and Air Caraïbes have signed a commercial agreement enabling Air Belgium to offer new destinations in the southern Caribbean with connections from Pointe-à-Pitre and Fort-de-France to the beautiful islands of Saint-Martin and Saint-Lucia.

This agreement also offers more flexibility to Air Belgium passengers who will now benefit from flights to Martinique and Guadeloupe four times a week.

New destinations in 2020 and 2021

In addition to the connections offered with Air Caraïbes to Saint Lucia and Saint Martin, the 2020 winter season will be marked by the launch of regular direct flights to a new destination.

Mauritius Island

As from mid-December, Air Belgium will fly twice a week to Mauritius. Bookings will be open very soon this summer. The launch of these new direct flights from Belgium with a three-class configuration are an alternative to the flights departing from Paris or stopover flights via the Middle East.

Scheduled to depart from Brussels National airport every Tuesday and Friday evening, these new flights will enable Belgian passengers to benefit from a significantly shorter flight journey, avoiding stopovers while enjoying the “Belgian Class” service of Air Belgium. Mauritius is a very popular destination for tourism in the Indian Ocean and attracts many Belgian tourists every year including several who possess a second residence on the island.

New horizons for 2021

Summer Season 2021

Air Belgium ambitions the launch of new routes in 2021 and will offer scheduled flights to:

The Dutch Antilles

The United States

Winter Season 2021

The airline is foreseeing its extension with a first destination on the African continent.

Air Belgium (2nd) aircraft photo gallery:

Virgin Atlantic to add 17 additional destinations

Virgin Atlantic Airways has made this announcement:

Airline set to return to 17 additional destinations across the network, including Tel Aviv, Miami, San Francisco and Barbados planned from August 2020.
Follows plans to restart first passenger flights from London Heathrow from 20^th July 2020 onwards
Restart of routes dependent on travel restrictions lifting around the world
Additional measures put in place at the airport and onboard to ensure health and safety of our customers and our people

Virgin Atlantic has announced its plan to restart passenger flying to 17 additional destinations from August 2020.

Following the airline’s announcement that services from London Heathrow are expected to resume from 20^th July 2020 onwards, Virgin Atlantic has unveiled more detailed plans that will see passenger flying restart to many destinations across the airline’s network.

Juha Jarvinen, Chief Commercial Officer, Virgin Atlantic commented: “As countries around the world begin to relax travel restrictions, we look forward to welcoming our customers back onboard and flying them safely to many destinations across our network. From 20^th July we are planning to resume some services and then from 1^st August onwards, we will resume passenger flying to 17 additional destinations around the world including Tel Aviv, Miami, Lagos and San Francisco,”

“However, we are monitoring external conditions extremely closely, in particular the travel restrictions many countries have in place including the 14 day quarantine policy for travellers entering the UK. We know that as the Covid-19 crisis subsides, air travel will be a vital enabler of the UK’s economic recovery. Therefore, we are calling for UK Government to continually review its quarantine measures and instead look at a multi-layered approach of carefully targeted public health and screening measures, including air bridges, which will support a successful and safe restart of international air travel for passengers and businesses.”

Virgin Atlantic planned return to flying from London Heathrow Terminal 2 (subject to change and dependent on travel restrictions)

Planned restart date	Routes
20th July 2020	London Heathrow to Hong Kong
21st July 2020	London Heathrow to New York JFK, Los Angeles
1st August 2020	London Heathrow to Barbados
4th August 2020	London Heathrow to Shanghai
4th August 2020	London Heathrow to San Francisco
9th August 2020	London Heathrow to Tel Aviv
18th August 2020	London Heathrow to Miami
23rd August 2020	London Heathrow to Lagos
24th August 2020	London Heathrow and Manchester to Orlando (subject to CDC approval)
25th August 2020	London Heathrow to Atlanta
September 2020	London Heathrow to Washington, Seattle, Las Vegas
September 2020	London Heathrow to Mumbai, Delhi
September 2020	London Heathrow to Boston
October 2020	London Heathrow to Montego Bay, Antigua, Grenada and Tobago (vai Antigua)
October 2020	Manchester to Barbados

Virgin Atlantic has taken the difficult decision to delay the restart of its London Heathrow to Orlando service and it will now resume on 24^th August 2020. Seasonal services from Glasgow and Belfast to Orlando will resume for selected dates in summer 2021. We will continue to monitor our network on an ongoing basis and expect more flights from London Heathrow and Manchester to resume in September and October 2020.

Your Health & Wellbeing

To ensure the health and safety of our customers and our people, Virgin Atlantic is implementing additional measures to offer peace of mind in the airport and when taking to the skies**. These include enhanced and thorough cleaning practices at check in, boarding gates and onboard including the use of electrostatic spraying of high-grade disinfectant onboard in all our cabins and lavatories, ensuring no surface is left untouched. Safe distancing will also be adhered to wherever possible, particularly at check-in and boarding and where not possible, masks will be required. We will provide a personal Health Pack for the wellbeing and comfort of all our customers, which will contain medical grade face masks as a requirement to be worn onboard, surface wipes and hand gel. In the short term, to minimise contact, we will also be offering a simplified hot food service in Economy and Premium Economy enclosed from preparation in a Covid-safe, monitored environment directly to our customers’ seats. Upper Class customers will receive a choice of hot meals, desserts, including cheese & biscuits, which will be delivered to their seat on a tray. We will also be serving a temporary limited alcohol offering in all cabins.

Transporting Essential Cargo

In addition to the restart of passenger flying, Virgin Atlantic continues to operate cargo-only flights keeping global supply chains running and transporting essential supplies around the world. Throughout June, the airline plans to operate more than 600 cargo-only services, serving destinations including Delhi, Chicago, Brussels, Johannesburg, Lagos and Miami.

The airline also looks forward to continuing to partner with the Department for Health and the NHS, working with them on 17 cargo charters per week from Shanghai and Beijing throughout June and July, bringing in the vital medical supplies that the teams here in the UK urgently need to care for patients. To date the airline has carried over 44 million items of PPE from China to the UK.

Virgin Atlantic Airways aircraft photo gallery:

Austrian Airlines to deploy 36 planes and quadruple capacity from July

Austrian Airlines has made this announcement:

Over 50 destinations on the program from July
Number of flights to various destinations will be increased
“Summer is the most popular travel season”, says CCO Andreas Otto

Following the successful restart, the ramp-up of Austrian Airlines’ flight operations continues to proceed according to plan.

Starting in July, Austria’s home carrier will fly to over 50 destinations. These include various European capitals and major cities, Greek holiday islands and long-haul destinations. City and holiday destinations are particularly in demand.

In order to give passengers more choice when planning their journey, Austrian Airlines is increasing the number of flight connections.

For example, Austria’s home carrier will fly to Zurich up to three times a day in July. Paris, Brussels and Hamburg as well as other destinations will be connected up to twice daily.

The number of flights to Eastern Europe will also increase, for example to Sofia and Bucharest (up to two daily flights instead of one).

In total, the restart offer will quadruple from initially five to 20 percent of last year’s program, subject to new official restrictions.

For the increased flight schedule, Austrian Airlines will deploy 36 aircraft from July onwards, i.e. almost half of its fleet. These include three Boeing 767s, which will be used for the long-haul routes to Bangkok, Chicago, New York and Washington, as well as mostly smaller aircraft such as Airbus A319, Embraer 195 and Dash 8.

Austrian Airlines aircraft photo gallery:

Alaska Airlines adds the Embraer 175 jet to state of Alaska flying

Alaska Airlines will start flying the Embraer 175 jet aircraft in the state of Alaska starting in October 2020. The E175, operated by regional partner Horizon Air, will serve select markets in Alaska.

“Alaskans who have flown the E175 jet in the Lower 48 have frequently asked when they might see the plane in the state, and we’re thrilled the time has come,” said Marilyn Romano, regional vice president. “This jet gives us the flexibility to increase daily frequency between Anchorage and Fairbanks up to seven times a day, and to provide year-round service to King Salmon and Dillingham. In time, the new mix of aircraft will unlock other markets in the state for future service.”

The E175 aircraft compliments the current Boeing 737 mainline flying in, to and from the state of Alaska and is perfect for many communities where larger jets are not the best option.

With no middle seats, the regional jet is configured with 12 seats in first class, 12 in premium class and 52 in the main cabin. Onboard amenities include Wi-Fi access, and Alaska Beyond Entertainment, which includes free movies and TV shows direct to customer devices and power outlets in first class.

“This has been an especially challenging time for Alaskans with the pandemic and reduction of air service hitting residents hard,” said Romano. “We’ve served the unique needs of the Great Land for 88 years and introducing a new aircraft to our in-state fleet supports additional flying and keeps Alaskans connected within the state and beyond.”

Alaska Airlines recently added Boeing 737 service to Cold Bay, and started service one month early to King Salmon and Dillingham. Alaska Air Cargo also began serving Unalakleet earlier this month with our 737-700 freighters.

Video:

Alaska Horizon aircraft photo gallery:

Air Canada completes financing transactions raising additional $1.23 billion

Air Canada made this announcement:

Air Canada has announced that it recently closed two additional financing transactions for net proceeds of $1.23 billion. Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in the first quarter of 2020, Air Canada has raised $5.5 billion of liquidity.

On June 22, 2020, Air Canada completed a private offering of $840 million aggregate principal amount of 9.00% Second Lien Secured Notes due 2024 (the “2024 Notes”), which were sold at 98% of par. The 2024 Notes are secured obligations of Air Canada, secured on a second lien basis by certain real estate interests, ground service equipment, certain airport slots and gate leaseholds, and certain routes and the airport slots and gate leaseholds utilized in connection with those routes.

Earlier in June, Air Canada completed a private offering of one tranche of Class C EETCs with a combined aggregate face amount of approximately US$315 million, which were sold at 95.002% of par. The Class C tranche ranks junior to the previously issued Series 2015-1, Series 2015-2, and Series 2017-1 EETCs, and is secured by liens on the 27 aircraft financed under the Series 2015-1, Series 2015-2, and Series 2017-1 EETCs. The Class C EETCs have an interest rate of 10.500% per annum, and a final expected distribution date of July 15, 2026.

“The fact Air Canada was able to add $1.23 billion to its liquidity with these last two transactions without utilizing any of its previously disclosed unencumbered assets leaves the airline in an excellent position to access additional funds should the need arise. Complementing these efforts have been ongoing initiatives to reduce cash burn through such measures as workforce reductions, a $1.1 billion Cost Transformation Program and capacity and network rationalization,” said Pierre Houle, Managing Director and Treasurer of Air Canada.

In addition to these more recent financings, Air Canada also concluded the following financing transactions in 2020:

In March 2020, Air Canada drew down its US$600 million and $200 million revolving credit facilities for aggregate proceeds of $1.03 billion.
In April 2020, Air Canada concluded a 364-day term loan in the amount of US$600 million, secured by aircraft and spare engines, for proceeds of $829 million.
In late April 2020, Air Canada concluded a bridge financing of $788 million for 18 Airbus A220 aircraft which Air Canada expects to replace with longer-term secured financing arrangements later in 2020.
In June 2020, Air Canada concluded an underwritten marketed public offering of 35,420,000 Class A Variable Voting Shares and/or Class B Voting Shares of the Company at a price to the public of $16.25 per share, for aggregate proceeds of $575.6 million, and a concurrent marketed private placement of convertible senior unsecured notes due 2025 for aggregate proceeds of US$747.5 million($1.01 billion).

“We entered 2020 on the doorstep of investment grade with a very strong balance sheet, low net leverage and significant liquidity, before the COVID-19 pandemic and government-imposed quarantines and border restrictions destroyed demand and depleted cash. Air Canada’s strong relative position has allowed us to navigate through this crisis and we have full confidence that we will be successful in maintaining liquidity at levels more than sufficient to meet the challenges and take advantage of the opportunities ahead. With these latest transactions Air Canada has now raised approximately $5.5 billion in 2020 and expects to end the second quarter of 2020 with at least $9 billion in liquidity,” concluded Mr. Houle.

Air Canada is utilizing the net proceeds from these transactions to supplement its working capital and for other general corporate purposes. The net proceeds from the financings will serve to increase Air Canada’s cash position, thereby allowing for additional flexibility both from an operational standpoint and in the implementation of its planned mitigation and recovery measures in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Air Canada’s unencumbered asset pool (excluding the value of Aeroplan and Air Canada Vacations) amounts to approximately $2.5 billion at current exchange rates. Air Canada will continue to explore financing arrangements should additional liquidity be required or to refinance existing debt to push out maturities.

Air Canada aircraft photo gallery:

Delta to resume flights between the U.S. and China on June 25

Delta Air Lines will re-start service between Seattle/Tacoma and Shanghai-Pudong via Seoul-Incheon on June 25, 2020 operating twice per week.

From July and beyond, it will operate once-weekly flights from Seattle/Tacoma and Detroit, also via Incheon.

Delta is the first U.S. airline to re-connect the U.S. and China since the temporary suspension in February due to the outbreak of COVID-19.

The Shanghai Pudong-Seattle flights will be served with Delta’s Airbus A350 aircraft, bringing clean and safe services to customers.

Delta’s health and safety measures on the ground and in the air include:

Sanitizing all aircraft with electrostatic spraying before departure and extensive pre-flight disinfection of high-touch points throughout the aircraft interior.
Using state-of-the-art air circulation systems with HEPA filters that extract more than 99.99% of particles, including viruses.
Adjusting the boarding process to back-to-front, reducing the need for customers to pass one another.
Streamlining  on board food and beverage service and encouraging customers to pack their own food and non-alcoholic beverages to decrease touchpoints.
Giving customers and employees more space for safer travel by blocking middle seats, reducing the number of customers on each flight. For international flights, Delta is capping seating at 75% in Delta One suite, and 60% in Delta Premium Select and Main Cabin.
All customers are required to wear face coverings during travel, starting with check-in and across Delta touch points including Delta Sky Clubs, boarding gate areas, jet bridges and on board the aircraft for the duration of the flight – except during meal service. Complimentary face masks are available on request and hand sanitizer is provided at check-in counters and boarding area.

Customers are encouraged to check outbound/entry policies regarding COVID-19 testing and screening in China and the U.S.

The schedule for June, July and beyond:

Passenger service (June 25 – 30)