Aviation

Bloomberg South African Airways (SAA) has been denied any further funding by its government owner as the national carrier looks for ways to recover from the coronavirus crisis and a local form of bankruptcy protection. The airline’s administrators, who were put in charge in December, were told by the state to instead source cash from available resources, according to a ...

Bloomberg Air-passenger traffic slumped 54% in China in the first three months of 2020 as the coronavirus outbreak and related travel restrictions decimated demand. China’s aviation industry lost 39.8 billion yuan ($5.6 billion) in the first quarter, with airlines accounting for 33.6 billion yuan, the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CACC) said at a briefing in Beijing on Wednesday. Passenger ...

Bloomberg Norwegian Air Shuttle ASA is fighting for survival, with a last-ditch plan to convert debt to equity driving its share price down as much as 63% during the first frantic moments of trading on Tuesday. Norwegian Air’s proposal will dilute shareholders already counting their losses after Covid-19 ruined the company’s efforts to return to profitability. The plan calls for ...

Bloomberg Deutsche Lufthansa AG is seeking shareholder approval to raise up to 2.4 billion euros ($2.6 billion), funds that could lower but not be enough to avoid the need for a government orchestrated bailout the carrier is facing to get through the coronavirus crisis. Germany’s flagship airline is seeking to issue 176 million new shares, or 36% of its existing ...

Bloomberg Indonesia has overtaken Japan to become the world’s third-biggest aviation market as airlines continue to slash passenger capacity because of the coronavirus, according to OAG Aviation Worldwide. The country’s scheduled capacity is now 2.1 million seats, down 7.8% from last week, but just ahead of Japan’s after a drop of nearly 15% there. Chinese capacity rose 7.2% to 8.7 ...

Bloomberg Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin’s insistence that America’s major airlines partially repay taxpayer funds aimed at shoring up the industry has set up a clash between the Trump administration and the carriers. At least some of the large carriers are unhappy with the terms — specifically, that large airlines repay 30% of any grant within five years — and are ...

Bloomberg Airbus SE slashed its aircraft output by a third in a stark concession to the coronavirus pandemic that’s upended the aviation industry. The world’s biggest commercial aircraft manufacturer now plans to produce about 48 planes a month across its A320, A330 and A350 programs, it said in a statement. It had gone into the year with a goal of ...

Bloomberg Air France-KLM has asked the French state for an immediate cash injection to help the troubled carrier stay afloat in the next four to five months, according to Les Echos newspaper. The cash injection, which could represent “many billions” of euros, would come on top of state-backed loans worth about 6 billion euros ($6.5 billion) the company is currently ...

Bloomberg The Australian government is in contact with Virgin Australia Holdings Ltd management and wants to make sure there is a competitive airline industry when people are allowed to start travelling again after the coronavirus pandemic. Australian travellers are not expected to be able to head overseas until at least the end of this year, although there may be easing ...

Bloomberg The coronavirus pandemic has brought the global aviation industry to its knees, and African carriers are particularly vulnerable as they seek assistance from governments already facing constrained finances. Ethiopian Airlines Group, South African Airways and Kenya Airways are among national airlines staring at mounting losses and the destruction of growth plans put in place before the Covid-19 outbreak. African ...