Aviation

Bloomberg Top Airbus executives are planning to assess additional measures that may be necessary to address the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, according to people familiar with the matter. Among the topics to be discussed at a meeting are production rates for the plane-maker’s top-selling A320-series narrow-body jet, said the people, who asked not to be named discussing confidential deliberations. ...

Bloomberg More than 200 UK travel and hospitality executives, including the head of London’s iconic Ritz hotel, joined a chorus of airlines and airports calling for the government to introduce air bridges to boost tourism and scrap contentious plans to quarantine visitors. The group of 217 — spanning hotel chains and travel agents to chefs — also want the foreign ...

Bloomberg Brookfield Asset Management rejoined the race to buy Virgin Australia Holdings Ltd, according to a person familiar with the situation, as administrators prepare to narrow the field of suitors for the collapsed carrier. The Canadian asset manager submitted a bid to administrators at Deloitte, said the person, declining to be named since the proposal hasn’t been made public. Deloitte, ...

Bloomberg US airlines have yet to tap $29 billion in federal pandemic relief loans as they wait to see whether the reopening of the economy revives demand and diminishes the need for money that comes with government strings attached. Although the four largest US passenger airlines have applied for the Treasury Department program, only American Airlines Group Inc has said ...

Bloomberg South Africa permits air travel from four main airports from Monday as the nation eases lockdown measures put in place to curb the spread of the coronavirus pandemic. Limited domestic flights will be allowed for business purposes, and passengers must ask for authorisation based on their reason for travel, Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula said in a televised briefing. Flights ...

Bloomberg The aviation industry’s recovery from the coronavirus outbreak will be long and slow, with passenger numbers likely to stay below pre-pandemic levels through 2023, according to S&P Global Ratings, which warned of more rating downgrades for airports over the next few months. Global air passenger numbers will drop as much as 55% this year, a far steeper slump than ...

Bloomberg The German government settled a dispute with the European Commission over a 9 billion-euro ($9.9 billion) bailout of Deutsche Lufthansa AG, clearing the way for the carrier to accept the rescue package. After intensive talks, the commission and the German government agreed that Lufthansa will reduce the number of aircraft it keeps at Frankfurt and Munich airports. Lufthansa in ...

Bloomberg Southwest Airlines Co CEO Gary Kelly predicted that intense competition for passengers will create “a brutal low-fare environment” among carriers once coronavirus fears subside and more people start to fly. Even with capacity cuts, the number of available airline seats will still far outnumber customers in the near term, the chief executive officer said in a video message to ...

Bloomberg South African Airways’ bankruptcy administrators submitted a business rescue plan to the government, creditors and labour unions and will begin discussions on it next week. The so-called Business Rescue Practitioners have asked for an extension to their contract until June 8 to complete the work, they said. The airline has been unprofitable since 2011 and has been surviving on ...

Bloomberg EasyJet Plc will cut thousands of jobs representing as much as 30% of the workforce to cope with a long-term hit to demand from the coronavirus crisis. Europe’s second-biggest discount carrier will begin employee consultations in coming days, it said in a statement on Thursday. The Luton, England-based firm has about 15,000 workers, suggesting 4,500 posts are at risk. ...