oneworld

American Airlines CE Dou Parker said Wednesday that he does not have a sense yet of when the airline industry will start to recover from the ongoing coronavirus crisis. Parker said that it "certainly feels like we're at the bottom" of the crisis, and that it's impossible to know when revenues and sales will begin to trend upward again. "I don't think I know that any better than anyone else," he said. "It depends on when our country starts moving again. It depends on when people feel comfortable. It depends on when Disneyland opens and shelter-in-place restrictions are lifted, and corporate restrictions on travel are lifted." Parker said that over the past week, the airline had seen a slight uptick in bookings for more than 90 days in advance, as well as corporate interest in travel to events in Q4.<br/>

The board of LATAM Airlines Group plans to suspend a US$57m dividend payment tied to the company's 2019 profits to preserve cash to weather the new coronavirus crisis, it said Tuesday night. The plan still needs to be voted on by shareholders, but it is likely to be approved, as the company has a controlling shareholder, the Cueto family. LATAM's closest competitors, Avianca Holdings and Gol Linhas Aereas Inteligentes, posted losses in 2019 so they do not have a dividend to distribute. Avianca's board initially proposed to distribute a dividend based on pre-2019 profits but then walked back the proposal in early March amid backlash and as the coronavirus began to spread fast in Latin America. Under Chilean law, companies are expected to distribute 30% of their net profits to shareholders.<br/>