The Victorian govt and transport billionaire Lindsay Fox considered an eleventh hour rescue package for Virgin Australia in a sign state govts could still play a key role in deciding whether a private consortium ends up owning the collapsed airline. Victorian premier Daniel Andrews joined the contest with the Queensland and NSW govts over the airline’s fate in recent days, considering a A$500m package before the company went into voluntary administration Tuesday. With Queensland offering $200m to support the company, the Victorian govt opened talks with Fox to relocate some of the airline’s operations to his Avalon Airport outside Melbourne, according to sources familiar with the discussions. <br/>
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Unions are calling on the govt to help support Virgin Australia after the airline entered voluntary administration. The carrier has appointed Deloitte to help it recapitalise and make it through the coronavirus crisis after talks with various parties, including the govt, to secure financial support failed to produce a solution. The TWU said the govt should work out a plan with trade unions to go before the administrators. TWU national secretary Michael Kaine said Tuesday: “There is still time to rescue Virgin and for the federal govt to take a bold move to ensure that the Australian economy is ready to bounce back when the crisis abates. Govts around the world are taking the difficult decisions to protect their economy and jobs and we urge the Australian govt to follow suit.” <br/>
Virgin Australia's entry into administration could give any successful bidder for the airline the chance to free it from a complex ownership structure that has slowed decision making and been blamed for years of losses. Hit hard by the fallout from the coronavirus pandemic, Virgin appointed an administrator Tuesday to try to sell the airline and more than 10 parties have expressed an interested in recapitalising it. Its losses are largely down to its international and budget divisions and efforts to turn the airline around have been often stymied by a board that includes representatives from the 5 foreign investors who control more than 90% of the company. "Having 5 different owners of very, very different shades obviously wasn't ideal. Getting them off the register would be great," said CAPA. <br/>
Airlines are doing everything they can to scrap or delay jetliner deliveries amid an unprecedented collapse in air travel. Not Air Baltic. The carrier has started talks with Airbus to accelerate handovers of its A220 model, CE Martin Gauss said. The existing plan to assemble a fleet of 50 of the narrow-body jets by 2025 could come to fruition a couple of years early, he said. Air Baltic is among a handful of carriers pledging to lean into the Covid-19 crisis that’s handed the industry its worst ever demand slump and led to the collapse of operators including Virgin Australia. The rebound could offer a chance to win market share, Gauss said, adding that one potential step could be geographical expansion in the neighbouring Nordics. Gauss predicts the A220 will be ideally suited to the tougher travel market. <br/>
UK investigators probing a serious dual engine problem on a departing Airbus A321 have discovered its fuel system had previously been overdosed with biocide, after a maintenance engineer misunderstood a measurement term. The engineer was confused by the term ‘ppm’ – meaning ‘parts per million’ – while conducting a biocidal shock treatment of the Titan Airways A321’s fuel tanks, as the jet neared the end of a month-long maintenance check. While the anti-contamination treatment required a biocide concentration of 100ppm, no explanation or instruction for calculating the overall quantity featured in the aircraft maintenance manual task, and the engineer resorted to an internet calculator. But he miscalculated the dose and, instead of the correct quantity of just under 0.8kg, used 30kg of biocide. <br/>
Wizz Air has obtained confirmation that it can take advantage of the UK govt’s support scheme for companies affected by the coronavirus crisis. Wizz Air says it has been assured it is an “eligible issuer” under the Covid Corporate Financing Facility. The airline has not specified the quantity of funding available, referring simply to the govt’s indicative limits for issue of commercial paper. These limits are based largely on credit ratings. Wizz Air’s credit rating was listed by Moody’s as ‘Baa3’ and by Fitch as ‘BBB’ before the crisis, which suggests – according to the financing facility’s criteria – that it would qualify for an initial GBP300m. The carrier says it “remains focused” on strengthening its “robust balance sheet”, pointing out that it ended March with E1.5b of cash. <br/>
El Al has entered discussions with an Israeli bank for a loan which would be partly backed by a state guarantee, in an effort to prop up its financial position. The carrier had previously sought an assistance package from the ministry of finance but was turned down. While El Al maintains that govt help, in some form, is crucial to the airline’s ability to ride out the coronavirus situation, it is turning to other means of funding. It has not identified the bank with which it has started loan negotiations. “Obtaining the loan, and the state’s backing for such a loan, in the near term are essential to allow the company to cope with the material consequences of the [coronavirus] crisis,” the airline says. It is also holding related discussions with the Israeli treasury. <br/>