Aviation

Bloomberg Japan Airlines Co posted its first quarterly operating loss in at least eight years and suspended its annual dividend as the coronavirus outbreak hits the travel industry. Fourth-quarter operating loss was 19.5 billion yen ($183 million), the first deficit since the company re-listed on the stock exchange in 2012. Sales fell 21% to 280 billion yen, JAL said. The …

Bloomberg British Airways owner IAG tapped $1.1 billion in state-backed loans for its Spanish units Iberia and Vueling to help weather collapsing travel demand. The banks involved in the syndicated agreement will ask state-owned Instituto de Crédito Oficial to provide guarantees, and the financing is conditional on those being received, London-based IAG said. The move comes as a surprise after …

Bloomberg IAG SA will slash the work force at its flagship British Airways by almost 30% in a painful restructuring aimed at shrinking the airline group for a downturn that could last for years. IAG shares fell as much as 6% on Wednesday, after the airline group said that as many as 12,000 jobs will be lost at the UK’s …

Bloomberg Scandinavia’s biggest network airline, SAS AB, is eliminating as many as 5,000 jobs, marking the first permanent staff cuts by a major European carrier in the face of collapsing travel demand. The Stockholm-based company said that the dismissals, amounting to 40% of the workforce, are necessary because employees have an average notice period of six months and it needs …

Bloomberg Boeing will resume 787 Dreamliner production at its South Carolina factory next week. Most South Carolina employees will get back to work on May 3 or May 4, Boeing said. The return includes all operations that were temporarily suspended because of the Covid-19 pandemic. The planemaker is restarting its commercial-jet factories as the Covid-19 infection rate starts to abate …

Bloomberg Germany is preparing to take a stake in Deutsche Lufthansa AG as part of a rescue package to help the carrier weather the coronavirus pandemic, according to people familiar with the matter. A decision is expected in the coming days for an overall aid package that could amount to more than double the company’s market capitalisation of 4 billion …

Bloomberg International law firm Hogan Lovells is holding discussions with some bondholders of distressed airline carrier Virgin Australia, ahead of a first creditors meeting set for Thursday. Virgin Australia became Australia’s first airline to fall amid the coronavirus pandemic when it was placed under voluntary administration last week. With total debt of about A$6.84 billion ($4.4 billion) and more than …

Bloomberg Embraer tumbled to the lowest since 2009 after Boeing scrapped a proposed $4.2 billion commercial-jet deal amid a severe slump in aircraft sales. The Brazilian planemaker has already begun arbitration proceedings, according to a regulatory filing, two days after vowing to seek damages from Boeing. The US aerospace giant pulled the plug on April 25, citing unspecified issues. Last …

Bloomberg National carrier Vietnam Airlines JSC will provide flights to San Francisco and Washington DC for Americans in early May, according to a posting on the website of the US Embassy & Consulate in Vietnam. The flights were arranged after most international flights to and from Vietnam were suspended due to the novel coronavirus outbreak. The first flight is scheduled …

Bloomberg Airbus SE chief Guillaume Faury warned employees that the planemaker is “bleeding cash” and needs to quickly cut costs to adapt to a radically shrinking aerospace industry. With airline customers fighting to survive and unable to accept new aircraft, Airbus is juggling its delivery schedules while reassessing its long-term outlook for the aerospace industry, Faury told staff in a …