When IATA outlined its latest estimates for the impact of coronavirus on the airline industry Tuesday, the urgency of the situation was front and centre of its messaging. It points out that markets with severe restrictions on air travel currently cover 98% of global passenger revenues. Therefore, in a situation where “the typical airline had 2 months of cash at the start of this year”, this is an “apocalypse now” scenario. Beyond this initial period of need, however, IATA also highlights a vital detail regarding this pandemic: unlike other outbreaks seen in recent history, it is likely to cause a global recession. For many airlines, the passing of the coronavirus – and there is clearly no guarantee of when this will happen – might herald the beginning of a new crisis as economic conditions worsen. <br/>
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Struggling US airlines will be eligible to receive federal loans and, if they are willing to give the govt an option for an ownership stake, direct cash assistance under the coronavirus rescue deal reached by lawmakers and the White House. The bill includes a US$62b lifeline for struggling US airlines, cargo carriers and contractors, with about half in loans and half in grants to make payroll, according to a draft version circulating to lawmakers Wednesday morning. Treasury secretary Steven Mnuchin would be empowered to require equity or other securities in return for the cash assistance to keep workers on the job, and other restrictions would apply, including a limitation on reducing payrolls and on executive pay. Passenger carriers would get up to $25b in grants and cargo haulers $4b, with a like amount of loans. <br/>
The bipartisan deal reached on the next coronavirus stimulus bill abandoned a last-ditch effort by House speaker Nancy Pelosi to force US airlines getting a bailout to cut their carbon footprint. The House language stripped from the deal would have linked aid to airlines to a requirement that they halve their carbon emissions over the next 30 years and start offsetting those emissions in 2025. Also struck: a House provision that would have provided US$100m over 5 years for research and development of more sustainable aviation fuels. The nixed climate language also would have directed the airline industry to put in place a continuous audit process to ensure carriers met the 2050 targets. <br/>
U.S. airlines probably will avoid applying for some US$25b in loans under a federal aid package designed to help them survive the collapse in travel from the new coronavirus, according to JPMorgan Chase. But the carriers will tap a similar amount in cash assistance for payrolls that should eliminate the risk of near-term bankruptcies, JPMorgan analyst Jamie Baker said Wednesday. A stipulation in the draft proposal that requires loan applicants to show that they have no other sources of capital “will preclude any airline in our coverage universe from applying, at least for the time being,” Baker said. While other funds are expected to grow more costly and harder to find, the 4 largest US carriers secured billions of dollars in loans over the past few weeks. <br/>
UK airline and crew interest groups are trying to allay concerns over planned govt support to the industry after confusion emerged over the nature and extent of financial measures for the sector. Pilot union BALPA insists that recent suggestions that the govt is backpedalling on plans to assist the industry are “misleading”. “Discussions about unique measures for individual airlines are ongoing,” it states. UK chancellor Rishi Sunak had informed Parliament March 17 that, as part of emergency funding measures to counter the impact of the coronavirus crisis, he would be discussing a “specific potential support package” for airlines and airports with UK transport secretary Grant Shapps. He added that they were “actively engaging” with companies and airports in the sector to “establish what support is required”. <br/>
London City airport is to close for all flights from this evening until the end of April. The operator of the downtown London airport says the move to temporarily suspend all commercial and private flights from the airport comes after the UK govt’s latest instructions in response to the coronavirus outbreak. Flights are being suspended at London City airport from March 25. ”This will begin in the evening Wednesday and is expected to last until the end of April. We will keep this under review,” the airport says. ”At this point in this fast-moving and unprecedented situation, we think this is the responsible thing to do for the safety and well-being of our staff, passengers and everyone associated with the airport.” Data shows there are scheduled to be 10 airlines operating out of London City airport. <br/>
Airlines pulled back from bidding in the EU’s auction for permits covering greenhouse gas pollution, another indication that demand for energy is dropping rapidly. None of the four bidders for carbon emissions allowances were successful in a contest for airline carbon allowances run by ICE Futures Europe Wednesday. It was the second auction failure in a little more than a week. With many flights grounded and carbon prices on the slide, demand for the securities is weakening. Thousands of industrial sites, power generators and airlines are required to buy the credits for their greenhouse-gas pollution. But with the economy and energy use weakening, their need for those permits is declining too. The contest Wednesday was further complicated by the expiry of March options and by the scale of another auction held earlier in the day. <br/>
Germany plans to insist that airline passengers arriving from non-EU countries go into quarantine for 14 days to reduce the risk of spreading the coronavirus, the Funke media group reported Wednesday. A decision could be taken by chancellor Angela Merkel's "crisis cabinet" as soon as Thursday and would affect the country's main airports such as Frankfurt, Munich and Berlin, the media group reported. Until now, people arriving from countries badly hit by the virus, including Iran, South Korea, Egypt, Italy, France and the US, have merely had to fill in a form, a situation that has triggered criticism. However, govt ministers now think that differentiating between countries makes little sense given the extent of the infection, Funke media reported, without citing sources. <br/>
Pakistan Wednesday halted all domestic passenger flights to stop the spread of the new coronavirus after reporting nearly 1,000 cases the country, just as Libya became the latest at-risk Mideast nation to report its first infection. The announcement by Libya's UN-backed govt leaves just war-torn Yemen as the last country in the Mideast to not have a reported case of the new virus and the COVID-19 illness it causes. In Pakistan, the domestic flight ban will begin Thursday, a civil aviation spokesman said. Islamabad previously cut train service and international flights. Initially, most of those infected were Pakistani pilgrims returning from neighbouring hard-hit Iran, which has seen the Mideast's worst outbreak of the virus. Now, however, the virus is being reported in people who had no travel history, officials say. <br/>