EasyJet’s largest shareholder has said the airline’s fleet should be reduced by more than a quarter, as the coronavirus plunges the industry into crisis and forces airlines to drastically cut costs. Stelios Haji-Ioannou, who together with his family now owns a 33.7% stake, said Monday the operator should “plan for 250 aircraft in the fleet”, down from 344 currently. “When we emerge from this effective ban on air travel — albeit stuck in a financial recession — all airlines will have to adjust their business plans to run much smaller fleets than they were beforehand,” he said. “The number of aircraft in the fleet and the number of aircraft an airline buys from Airbus is critical.” Last November EasyJet ordered 12 aircraft from Airbus; a cancelled order would incur hefty financial penalties. <br/>
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Icelandair Group has disclosed that it is operating only 14% of its flight schedule and expects this to reduce further, and that it is taking steps to move 92% of employees to temporary part-time working. But it is also cutting 240 personnel across its divisions. The group employs just over 4,700 staff. Salaries of remaining employees will be reduced by 20%. Icelandair Group’s CE, Bogi Nils Bogason, and its board members will take 30% salary cuts while other executive management salaries will be reduced by 25%. Switching to temporary working will limit lay-offs, it says, and assist short-term cash-flow. While it has implemented measures to reduce expenditure, through supplier and financing negotiations, the company says salaries are its single-largest cost item. <br/>
Canadian leisure carrier Air Transat will suspend all flights April 1, while its parent Transat AT is laying off some 3,600 Canadian employees due to the coronavirus crisis. The layoffs account for about 70% of the company’s Canadian workforce and include “flight crew personnel”, says Transat, which intends to halt operations until April 30. “Operations are being stopped gradually in order to enable Transat to repatriate as many of its customer as possible to their home countries,” says the company. Since March 18, Air Transat had brought some 40,000 customers back to Canada from Transat’s destinations outside Canada. Some 25,000 customers remain outside the country, Transat says. <br/>
Amid the spread of the novel coronavirus to all 50 states, Hawaii’s governor ordered a strict quarantine for arriving passengers. Anyone flying to the islands will have to quarantine at home or at their hotel for 14 days. Also, Hawaiian Airlines will suspend all but 1 flight between the US mainland and Hawaii beginning Thursday. Hawaii governor David Ige ordered the strict airline passenger quarantine Saturday. “With the majority of Hawaii’s COVID-19 cases linked to travel, it is critical that we further mitigate the spread of the virus by both residents and visitors who are coming from out-of-state,” he said in his order. To get Hawaii residents and vacationers back to their homes, Hawaiian Airlines said it would continue all regularly scheduled service through Wednesday. <br/>
Wizz Air has warned the grounding of its full fleet remains “a distinct possibility” as it has now reduced its operations to around 15% of its planned capacity. EasyJet and Ryanair have already said they are grounding the bulk of their capacity as European countries tighten their border controls in response to the coronavirus pandemic, while Eurowings now expects to operate around 10% of its capacity. ”On average, Wizz Air’s capacity is reduced by 30% year-on-year for the month of March,” the carrier says in an operational update Monday. “As of this week, Wizz Air has grounded around 85% of its fleet." The company adds it is confident in its ability to survive ”even a potential prolonged grounding substantially beyond the current estimates for the impact of Covid-19 in Europe”. <br/>
Aer Lingus regional operator Stobart Air is to lay off staff and temporarily suspend all international flight operations from Saturday in response to the “staggering” impact of the coronavirus pandemic on demand for airline services. Monday, the company also said it would operate a reduced schedule for the rest of the week. “The Covid-19 pandemic has seen the demand for airline services decrease at unprecedented levels,” it said. “Its rapid impact across the global aviation industry has been staggering. Against this backdrop, Stobart Air has today taken the decision to operate a significantly reduced schedule this week and temporarily suspend all international flight operations with effect from March 28th until further notice.” <br/>