Aviation

Bloomberg The head of Indonesia’s flag carrier said better terms on aircraft loans will help it avoid falling into bankruptcy as the nation grapples with surging coronavirus cases. “We discussed the risks, the benefits, the pluses and minuses and the company’s leadership decided against it,” PT Garuda Indonesia President Director Irfan Setiaputra said when asked in an interview about considering ...

Bloomberg TUI AG said it’s making progress on plans to cut overhead costs by 30% as the world’s largest tour operator struggles to cope with a collapse in demand for its holidays. Measures including increased digitalisation that are underway across TUI’s head office, destination services and markets and airlines operations are already set to deliver close to a 300 million-euro ...

Bloomberg European planemaker Airbus SE unveiled three designs it’s studying to build hydrogen-powered aircraft as it races to bring a zero-carbon passenger plane into service by 2035. The approaches include a turbofan jet with capacity for as many as 200 passengers — similar to its A321neo narrow-body — that can fly more than 2,000 nautical miles, according to a statement. ...

Bloomberg Avianca Holdings SA, the Latin American airline that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in May, is now seeking court approval for financing totaling about $2 billion. The company secured commitments for the debtor-in-possession financing and has filed a motion to approve it in the US Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York. “Securing these financing commitments ...

Bloomberg While flight shaming and the coronavirus pandemic have spurred airlines to hasten the retirement of their oldest, fuel-guzzling aircraft, not all those planes end up in boneyards in the desert. Many find a second life in the fleets of Amazon.com Inc and other cargo carriers. Amazon has been among the biggest lessors of converted Boeing Co 767s in the ...

Bloomberg A whistle-blower at Boeing Co is urging aviation regulators to add additional protections to the grounded 737 Max. Curtis Ewbank, who has previously raised concerns about the plane’s design with congressional investigators, said in comments filed with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) that a proposal to mandate fixes to the jet didn’t address multiple hazards identified in the two ...

Bloomberg Singapore Airlines Ltd pilots have agreed to further pay cuts to remain in employment, the carrier said. The city-state’s flag carrier and the Air Line Pilots Association — Singapore reached the agreement and the company will implement the measures for all remaining pilots in Singapore Airlines and SilkAir with effect from October 1. The deal will help to mitigate ...

Bloomberg Philippine Airlines Inc said it has received refund requests totaling 15.9 billion pesos ($329 million) amid the coronavirus pandemic, seeking customers’ understanding as it has only paid back 80% of that amount. The carrier owned by billionaire Lucio Tan has canceled more than 60,000 flights since March, affecting over 1.3 million passengers, it said in a statement. Asia’s oldest ...

Bloomberg US accident investigators who last year urged broad reforms of aircraft certification after two deadly crashes of Boeing Co’s 737 Max have endorsed fixes for the jet proposed last month by the Federal Aviation Administration. A letter from National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) Chairman Robert Sumwalt said safety reviews by the regulators and proposed changes to pilot procedures had ...

Bloomberg The administrators of South African Airways (SAA) remain in the dark about when the funds the government said it will provide to restart the insolvent national carrier will land. “The government sent a letter to the business rescue practitioners saying that National Treasury and the cabinet had committed to providing 10.5 billion rand ($650 million) in funding for SAA,” ...