October, 2020

• 28 October

  SpiceJet starting its seaplane service to world’s tallest statue

  

  Bloomberg SpiceJet Ltd is starting a seaplane service connecting the city of Ahmedabad with Kevadia, site of the world’s tallest statue — a 182-metre tribute to the country’s first home minister, Vallabhbhai Patel. Flights will start this Saturday, the 145th anniversary of Patel’s birth, from Sabarmati riverfront to near the so-called Statue of Unity. Fares for the 30-minute trip on …

  Read More »
• 28 October

  Covid-19: E-commerce boom offers a lifeline for oil

  

  Bloomberg Look across the street from your home-office window: chances are you will see a delivery van. Trucks from Amazon.com Inc and other e-commerce companies have become ubiquitous during the pandemic. In much of the industrialised world, an ever-growing number of vans, trucks, trains and ships are hauling everything from desks to smart phones as consumers turn to online shopping …

  Read More »
• 28 October

  One in four EU airports may face insolvency

  Bloomberg Many European airports will struggle to stave off insolvency without state help unless travel recovers from its pandemic slump by the end of the year, according to the continent’s main industry group. Airports Council International Europe predicts that 193 out of 740 airports in the region will soon struggle to pay their bills while government-imposed quarantine requirements remain in …

  Read More »
• 28 October

  ANA’s new budget carrier already faces skepticism

  Bloomberg ANA Holdings’s plan to launch a new low-cost carrier has doubters, given the coronavirus pandemic’s impact on airlines worldwide and an industry trend towards retrenching. The company said it will launch a new budget brand around fiscal year 2022, targeting medium-distance flights to Southeast Asia and Oceania. That coincided with the carrier unveiling a restructuring plan involving cost reductions …

  Read More »
• 28 October

  European stocks tumble to 5-month low; futures slide

  

  Bloomberg European stocks dropped to a five-month low and US equity futures slumped as rising coronavirus infections and tougher lockdowns added to worries about the economic hit from pandemic. The Stoxx Europe 600 Index sinks 2.5% after German Chancellor Angela Merkel proposed closing bars and restaurants for a month to curb the spread of the virus. The selloff across Europe …

  Read More »
• 28 October

  South African stocks slip to four-week low

  

  Bloomberg South Africa’s main stock index dropped as much as 0.8% to the lowest since September 28 as major mining companies led the declines, with investors globally concerned about the impact of the worsening pandemic on economic activity and as jitters over next week’s US presidential election rise. Locally, traders are awaiting Finance Minister Tito Mboweni’s medium-term budget statement. The …

  Read More »
• 27 October

  Green power set to draw $11tn investment by 2050

  

  Bloomberg Green power is set to draw around $11 trillion of investment in the coming decades as the cost of renewables plummets and more of the world’s energy comes from electricity. That’s the latest analysis from BloombergNEF (BNEF) in its annual New Energy Outlook report. It’s further evidence of how cheap renewable power sources will continue to push aside fossil fuels …

  Read More »
• 27 October

  Africa’s only atomic plant bets $1.2 billion on a second life

  

  Bloomberg Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd, South Africa’s indebted power utility, started a billion-dollar round of investments in Africa’s oldest and only nuclear power plant before getting permission from safety regulators that the reactor’s lifetime can be extended. The decision to begin installing new steam generators at the Koeberg plant near Cape Town underscores state-owned Eskom’s confidence that it will win …

  Read More »
• 27 October

  Japan’s ANA forecasts its biggest ever loss of $4.8b

  

  Bloomberg ANA Holdings Inc forecast its biggest-ever operating loss of 505 billion yen ($4.8 billion) for the fiscal year through March 2021, the latest airline to face an existential threat to its business due to the pandemic. The Japanese carrier unveiled a restructuring plan that calls for: A newly branded low-cost carrier in addition to Peach, the budget airline already …

  Read More »
• 27 October

  Lufthansa abandons offices to slash costs

  

  Bloomberg Deutsche Lufthansa AG told staff that winter schedule cutbacks will cause it to bench an additional 125 aircraft and temporarily close large parts of its administrative operations. The reduction will cut the carrier’s active fleet back to the level it operated in the 1970s, with the impact filtering through its operations, it said in a letter to employees seen …

  Read More »