AirlinesU.S. airlines want a $50 billion bailout. They spent $45 billion buying back their stock. We don’t know yet which companies are going to get how much in federal bailout money and what the bailout terms will be.
But it’s a sure bet that a ton of money will be earmarked for our nation’s four biggest airlines — American, Delta, Southwest and United.
LinkTUI Germany Gets Government Loan As Lufthansa Seeks State Aid The coronavirus pandemic has caused serious trouble to the airline industry of Germany. The nation’s premium leisure airline, TUI Germany, has today announced the signing of state aid loan worth €1.8 billion ($1.97bn) with the German federal government.
LinkShould Low Cost Carriers Charge Passengers To Use The Bathroom? When you fly, one of the last things you would ever think about is taking spare change to pay for the bathroom. No airlines currently charge for using onboard bathrooms. However, for low-cost airlines, the proposal to do so could be an attractive one. Should low-cost carriers charge?
LinkRyanair Stops Issuing Refunds As Staff Work From Home It appears that Irish low-cost carrier Ryanair is now refusing to issue refunds for canceled flights until the coronavirus situation has eased. Emails received by passengers booked to fly suggest that the airline is unable to process cash refunds due to not having staff to process the payments. This is, on the face of it, against EU rules, and has instigated an extensive backlash from passengers who just want their money back.
LinkCoronavirus Has Cost Ethiopian Airlines Half A Billion Dollars 2019 was a tough enough year for Ethiopian Airlines after it suffered the fatal crash of its 737 MAX and the loss of 157 lives. Sadly, 2020 has been equally as challenging for Africa’s biggest airline. In fact, Ethiopian Airlines has lost more than US$550 million since January due to the coronavirus pandemic. Will the carrier survive the current storm?
LinkQatar Airways Moves 50,000 Tonnes Of Medical Aid So Far Qatar Airways helped to move 50,000 tonnes of medical aid around the world last month. The airline continues to play a role in the global supply chain as flight capacity has dropped around the globe.
LinkAmerican Airlines To Launch Additional Cargo Only Flights American Airlines announced today that it is expanding its international cargo-only operations. This will provide over 5.5 million pounds of weekly capacity to transport critical goods between the US and Europe, Asia, and Latin America.
LinkWhy Hi Fly’s Airbus A380 Can’t Fly To Lisbon Airport Hi Fly has failed to obtain the authorization that it needs to fly emergency supplies into Lisbon Portela Airport. The wet lease specialist airline was planning to use its A380 to ship emergency supplies at some point in the near future. However, the lack of infrastructure at the airport means the request has been denied.
LinkJapan Airlines’ LCC ZIPAIR Has Its Launch Delayed The Japan Airlines owned low-cost carrier startup ZIPAIR has been confirmed today to have postponed its launch as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. ZIPAIR was due to begin service on May 14th, but will now push back this launch until at least early June.
LinkBamboo Airways Delays European Flight Launch Until June Bamboo Airways appears to have delayed the launch of its European flights to Prague until June. The airline’s booking engine currently shows flights unavailable before the 3rd of June.
LinkKLM Brings The Boeing 747 Out Of Retirement For Cargo Flights Avgeeks around the world were sad last month as KLM operated its final Boeing 747 flight. The airline intended to retire the aircraft early due to the current crisis. However, KLM has already backtracked, bringing two Boeing 747 combis back into service.
LinkKuwait Airlines Cancels 5 Airbus A350 Orders Middle Eastern carrier Kuwait Airways canceled a portion of its original Airbus A350 order. Back in 2013, it made an order for 10 of the aircraft type. News broke in 2018 that the airline had canceled five orders for the A350. It’s taken quite some time, but those numbers are finally reflected in Airbus’ order books.
LinkAir Canada Will Rehire 16,500 Staff Who Were Laid Off A matter of days after Air Canada moved to reduce its workforce by 50%, or 16,500 employees, the Canadian government has come to the rescue. Canada’s emergency wage subsidy has been extended to cover large companies like Air Canada. It’s a lucky break for the airline’s employees and means their jobs are safe for at least another two months.
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