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Ryanair will take an estimated E300m hit this year because of a wrong way bet on fuel prices, which have plummeted over the past month because of the coronavirus pandemic. The airline typically hedges a large proportion of its requirements for jet fuel in advance as an insurance policy to protect itself from rising oil prices. However, it has been caught out by the recent plunge in the oil market as it still has to pay the higher hedge price.  Ryanair on Friday warned it expected to “record ineffectiveness” on its full year 2021 fuel hedges as an exceptional item of about E300m in this year’s results, ending March 31 2020. Daniel Roeska, aviation analyst at Bernstein, noted that high levels of hedging are “working against the company”. He said it will also hit cash in the early part of Ryanair’s 2021 financial year as spot prices below hedged prices mean payments to counterparties.  It comes as the airline said it expected pre-exceptional profit for the year to be at the bottom end of its previous estimate, between E950m and E1b, because of the deepening impact of the coronavirus pandemic.  Ryanair noted that traffic in March fell 48% from 10.9m passengers in 2019 to 5.7m in 2020. This meant full-year traffic will rise just 4% to 149m, down from the forecasted 154m figure the airline said it was on track to achieve even as late as early March.<br/>

JetBlue Airways will park 100 aircraft and reduce flying capacity 70% this month as passenger loads plummet because of the new coronavirus. The carrier expects the number of passengers to fall to 7,000 daily in April from about 120,000 that it would typically expect, a plunge of 94%, JetBlue said in a statement Friday. The New York-based airline also is burning through $10m of savings each day. “Just a few weeks ago, we couldn’t get new aircraft fast enough,” CEO Robin Hayes said in a statement. “Now we are taking steps to sit down the aircraft we have.” Hayes warned that the carrier will need to raise additional funds, even if it receives federal money, to pay other operating costs. Daily bookings and ancillary fees are producing about $1m day this month, down from $22m a year ago, JetBlue said. The carrier meanwhile is issuing another $2m in cash refunds and $11m daily of travel bank credits for canceled reservations.<br/>

Emirates is seeking to raise billions of dollars from loans after the coronavirus forced the airline to ground its passenger fleet, according to people with knowledge of the matter. The carrier is reaching out to local and international banks, the people said, asking not to be identified because the information is private. A spokesperson for Dubai-owned Emirates declined to comment. Dubai’s government last week stepped in to shield the airline and said it would receive unspecified financial aid. Emirates, whose fleet consists of all wide-body aircraft, had turned Dubai into a hub for global travel, typically operating more than 500 flights a day.<br/>

Stelios Haji-Ioannou, the founder of easyJet, has warned that he will not inject any fresh equity into the airline until it terminates a contract with Airbus for GBP4.5b, according to a letter here posted on EasyGroup's website. In his letter, Haji-Ioannou has also called for removal of easyJet’s CFO Andrew Findlay, after earlier calling for a board meeting on a vote to remove Andreas Bierwirth as a director, which was rejected by easyJet. “If this 4.5 billion pound liability to Airbus is preserved – and not cancelled - by the easyJet board then, I regret to report, easyJet will run out of money around August 2020, perhaps even earlier,” the founder said in his letter. “I will certainly not be throwing good money after bad. For the avoidance of doubt, I will not inject any fresh equity in easyJet whilst the Airbus liability is in place.” He also stated that he will continue to call for the removal of more directors every time the company delays the vote.<br/>

Hungarian low-cost airline Wizz Airis repatriating citizens and transporting medical equipment for east European governments, in a move coupling one-off charter traffic with savvy government relations amid the coronavirus crisis. Wizz Air is one of several airlines involved in the largest peacetime repatriation effort in Europe as travel firms turn their attention from tourists to serving governments. "We try to do the right thing," Wizz Air CE Jozsef Varadi said. "Yes, governments and other institutions pay for the flights, but this is not the time to make a profit ... The most important issue here is to help." Wizz charged passengers $880 on one repatriation flight from the US, with the Budapest government picking up the rest of the tab and securing onboard meals. The carrier is deploying 10% of its fleet and 200 staff in the effort, which included its first ever transatlantic flights as Airbus jets acquired to serve Europe's tourist boom zig-zagged across the United States and stopped in Iceland for fuel.<br/>

Lessors have taken back at least 27 planes from Mexico’s Interjet, according to a company that tracks leased aircraft, making the airline one of the first to lose a big chunk of its fleet as the coronavirus pandemic torpedoes travel demand. The repossessed Airbus jets have been flown mainly to Arizona and California, said UK-based aviation consultant IBA Group. Interjet, which stopped flying internationally last week, was already contending with a collapse in flying that has buffeted airlines around the world. The blow to Interjet’s fleet points to the next stage in the virus crisis as financially weaker carriers struggle to stay afloat while customers largely stop flying. The carrier was contending with financial challenges long before the outbreak’s spread. And with no government bailout on the horizon in Mexico, Interjet’s future is becoming grimmer, said Bloomberg Intelligence analyst George Ferguson. “It looks like lessors want to get their planes out before they go into default,” Ferguson said. “Interjet is probably not a long-term survivor.” Interjet denied that its planes had been repossessed.<br/>

Transit through Bahrain International Airport is open again for international travelers, Manama-based Gulf Air said on Saturday, though entry to the country is limited to Bahrainis and other residents during the coronavirus pandemic. “In compliance with the new regulations issued by the Bahrain Civil Aviation Authority, we are welcoming back transit passengers through Bahrain International Airport. Arrival into Bahrain remains restricted to nationals and residents,” the airline said on Twitter.<br/>

South African carrier Comair has agreed to call off its planned acquisition of aircraft leasing specialist Star Air Cargo and Star Air Maintenance as it battles mounting challenges. Comair agreed a deal with sellers Sundrops Investments, Smashing Star Investments and Marcel Liebenberg last summer for the acquisition. Comair was to pay US$5.1m plus a profit-share payment for the acquisition. But in a brief stock market statement today, Comair says: ”Shareholders are now advised that with effect from 31 March 2020, the parties by mutual consent, agreed to terminate the agreement, such that the agreement shall cease to have any further force or effect.” While no reason has been specified for the deal being abandoned, the airline has been dealing with the impact of the coronavirus crisis on top of a series of existing challenges.<br/>

THAI Smile Airways will suspend all domestic flights from Tuesday until the end of the month, the airline said Friday. The airline said it decided to cease operating on all domestic routes until April 30 in line with government restrictions on travel in the campaign against the spread of the coronavirus. A wholly owned subsidiary of THAI with a focus on regional budget services, THAI Smile stopped flying international routes on March 23. It also cancelled its route to Narathiwat on Wednesday. It is still operating flights to Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai, Khon Kaen, Udon Thani, Ubon Ratchathani, Krabi, Surat Thani, Phuket and Hat Yai. Their last flights will be on Monday. The Civil Aviation Authority of Thailand this week allowed Thai airlines to suspend domestic and international services given the collapse in travel demand because of the Covid-19 pandemic.<br/>