The world is close to running out of space to store all the fuel that jets are no longer burning. Only about 20% of land-based storage for the product remains -- about 50m barrels -- while airlines cut flights, according to consultant JBC Energy. A collapse in air travel due to the coronavirus pandemic has brought with it a plunge in fuel demand and the threat of a shortage of places to keep unwanted supplies. The picture looks sure to worsen in the coming weeks and months unless oil refineries take drastic action of their own to cut output. Flight cancellations are destroying demand for the roughly 7m barrels-a-day market, with some traders speculating consumption could have dropped by as much as 50% of that. The product has slumped by more than 60% this year. <br/>
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Operators of Airbus A320-family jets are being ordered to remove disks from certain International Aero Engines V2500 powerplants after an uncontained failure resulted in an aborted A321 take-off. The incident occurred March 18, says the FAA, and involved a high-pressure turbine first-stage disk failure. The FAA is ordering removal, within 5 flight cycles, of certain first-stage high-pressure turbine disks – bearing particular part and serial numbers – fitted to various models of V2500 engine. All other affected engine models should have records reviewed within 3 days to assess whether particular disks have been fitted, and operators should remove these disks if installed. It says the root cause of the initiating event is “still under investigation” and that further measures could be ordered. <br/>
Boeing announced several extraordinary measures to help the company through the coronavirus crisis which has left the entire aerospace industry reeling. The manufacturer says March 20 that CE Dave Calhoun and board of directors’ chairman Larry Kellner will forgo all pay until the end of the year. Boeing will also suspend dividends and continue to pause share repurchasing plans until further notice. The company had suspended stock buyback programs almost a year ago, following the grounding of its 737 Max. “Boeing is drawing on all of its resources to sustain operations, support its workforce and customers, and maintain supply chain continuity through the COVID-19 crisis and for the long term,” the company says. <br/>
President Donald Trump supports imposing stock buyback restrictions on companies that receive financial aid as part of the federal govt’s coronavirus recovery package. Airlines and Boeing, which have been criticised for spending billions of dollars repurchasing their own stock during recent boom years, are among US businesses seeking financial help. “I would demand that there would be no stock buybacks,” Trump said Friday. “I don’t want them taking hundreds of millions of dollars and buying back their own stock.” Trump’s comments come the day after the US Senate released an economic package that would provide US airlines up to US$58b in collateralised govt loans and loan guarantees. The Senate bill does not prohibit stock buybacks, though the ultimate aid package could change. <br/>
US airline CEs have told Congress that govt aid must flow quickly to avoid mass layoffs and furloughs as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, while promising to limit executive pay and stop share buyback programs. A March 21 letter signed by CEs of A4A and 10 large passenger and cargo carriers appeals for at least US$58b in order to protect an industry that supports 750,000 jobs. The letter again requests that the $58b include $29b in grants and $29b in loans or loan guarantees. If granted, the airlines promise not to furlough workers or cut employees through Aug 31, 2020. The letter echoes a proposal put forward by A4A earlier this week. Saturday’s letter, however, mentions a reduction in employee numbers and furloughs for the first time. <br/>
The EC has approved a plan to suspend rules that force airlines to continue operating 80% of flights at certain EU airports in order to maintain slots. Ambassadors representing EU member states endorsed a plan to waive the use-it-or-lose-it slot rule until Oct 24, 2020, to help airlines cope with the sharp drop in demand for flights amid the coronavirus pandemic. The proposed waiver, which must also be approved by the European Parliament, would apply from March 1 until Oct 24. It would also be retroactively applied to cover the period from Jan 23 – the date on which the first Chinese airport was closed by authorities – until Feb 29. The waiver could be “extended quickly” beyond Oct 24, “if the current serious situation persists”, states the Council. <br/>
London Heathrow is to restructure and “shrink” the hub’s operations while the coronavirus situation persists, the airport’s operator has advised. The airport will remain open, enabling vital freight services – as well as a limited number of passenger services – to continue. But the operator warns that its financial performance will be “significantly impacted”, given the reduction of services by carriers. Passenger numbers were already down by nearly 5% in February, before the scale of coronavirus-related cancellations soared. “We are taking a number of immediate actions to safeguard the financial resilience of the business,” says the airport company. These measures include a review of capital projects, cutting operating costs, reducing executive salaries and freezing recruitment. <br/>
Two stalwarts of the European summer aerospace event calendar – the Farnborough air show and Royal International Air Tattoo – have become the latest to confirm their cancellation due to the coronavirus pandemic. The organisers of both UK events announced their decisions Friday, citing the effect of the Covid-19 outbreak and resulting restrictions on public gatherings. “After very careful consideration, the unprecedented impact of the global coronavirus pandemic has forced this decision in the interests of the health and safety of our exhibitors, visitors, contractors and staff,” says show organiser Farnborough International. Meanwhile, the organisers of RIAT says the current global health emergency represents a “challenging and unprecedented environment… worsening by the day”. <br/>
Berlin airports operator FBB is insisting that the new Brandenburg hub will open on time, even if the coronavirus crisis disrupts trial runs prior to the inauguration. The operator says the Oct 31 opening date will be “strictly adhered to”, but it acknowledges that there are aspects of the testing which need consideration in order to maintain the deadline. “It will be possible to cope with reduced or postponed individual trial runs,” it states, given the expected lower-than-forecast traffic volumes. Passenger numbers at its Tegel and Schonefeld airports are currently down by some 75%, it states, and is likely to fall further. As a consequence, FBB says it will be “temporarily dependent” on financial aid, and has discussed the matter with its shareholders. <br/>
Flight activity in European airspace has deteriorated by more than 50% compared with the same point last year, the latest data from air navigation organisation Eurocontrol reveals. The average daily number of flights for March 2019 reached 27,362. But the daily figure sank below the halfway point March 18 – when Eurocontrol recorded 13,769 flights – and the situation worsened further March 19 when the reduction deepened to 12,670, an overall fall of 56%. Countries being particularly hard-hit by the fall in flights include Italy, Latvia and Moldova – all of which experienced a 87-90% traffic reduction March 19. The declines for France and Spain on the same date were around 63%, while the figures for Germany and the UK were 56% and 42% respectively. Ireland was the least affected, with a fall of less than 25%. <br/>