Melbourne Airport has made a bold pitch to become Virgin Australia's new home, arguing the collapsed airline must walk away from its Brisbane base to better exploit the lucrative route between the nation's two largest cities. Virgin was placed into voluntary administration Tuesday, sparking a frenzy of interest from state govts and private sector bidders. Media revealed this week transport magnate Lindsay Fox held talks with the Andrews govt and Virgin about moving its operations to his privately owned Avalon airport. The Queensland govt has unveiled a A$200m rescue package for the airline and said it would "stop at nothing" to keep it based in Brisbane. Potential bidders view support from state govts as a critical factor in determining the airline's future. <br/>
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The collapse of Virgin Australia after the briefest of fights indicates the world’s weakest airlines have little time to secure funds before they succumb to the coronavirus. The debt-laden carrier became the outbreak’s biggest airline scalp when it handed control to administrators Tuesday. A near-halt in passenger revenue overwhelmed the company in less than 2 months. “We should get used to news of this kind,” said Volodymyr Bilotkach, a lecturer in air-transport management at the Singapore Institute of Technology. “We’ll see more airlines go under." The speed of Virgin Australia’s unravelling suggests industry groups haven’t been exaggerating in raising the alarm with increasing frequency. IATA has said half of airlines face bankruptcy in 2 to 3 months without govt help. <br/>
Ryanair CE Michael O’Leary warned the airline would not return to flying if govts insist planes leave their middle seats empty when travel restrictions are lifted following the coronavirus pandemic. The executive gave a bullish outlook for a recovery in air travel, laying out plans for the airline to resume 80% of flights by September provided that flying in Europe could restart from early July. But O’Leary said its plans would be thwarted if there were “some entirely ineffective social distancing measures like having middle seats empty because if middle seats are empty we’re not returning to flying at all”. “We can’t make money on 66% load factors. Even if you do that, the middle seat doesn’t deliver any social distancing, so it’s kind of an idiotic idea that doesn’t achieve anything anyway,” he said. <br/>
Two lessors to SpiceJet are in talks to terminate contracts and repossess planes via mutually agreed deals with the airline over missed payments, according to sources directly involved in the discussions. One of the leasing companies started to pull out a few planes earlier this year after SpiceJet failed to pay maintenance fees due since late last year and lease rentals since last month, said a source, adding that talks were continuing over other jets. The second lessor began discussions, which are ongoing, last month just as the coronavirus pandemic started crippling the airline industry, according to the second source. About 10 planes in total have been or could be repossessed, with leases terminated with the airline's agreement, according to the sources. <br/>
India ordered airlines this week to stop selling tickets. Hardly any listened. Four of the country’s top 6 airlines, which together control 80% of the local market, are selling domestic flight tickets for as soon as the third week of May, searches on their websites showed. That’s despite the govt saying no decision has been made on allowing flights after the end of the nationwide lockdown May 3, which means airlines should refrain from selling tickets until authorities give them the go ahead. Market leader IndiGo is selling tickets from June 1, as is Vistara, searches showed. SpiceJet, the nation’s second-biggest airline, and Go Airlines India, which has furloughed 90% of its staff, are selling tickets from May 16. “We are working on that. Hopefully will find ways to resolve soon,” the DGCA said when asked about the sales. <br/>
Struggling Air Mauritius has entered voluntary administration after the board resolved that with the coronavirus grounding it would not be able to meet its financial obligations in the foreseeable future. Air Mauritius had already embarked on a transformation programme in January this year under which it was reviewing its business model in a bid to secure sustainability. The airline’s board of directors state that while “substantial progress” was made in developing its action plan, the closure of borders and halting of air services because of the coronavirus has led to a “complete erosion of the company’s revenue base”. Air Mauritius was forced to suspend flights at the start of April because of the coronavirus restrictions. <br/>
Air Namibia announced Wednesday that staff salaries for April will be delayed by at least a week as the country's ban on air travel hits its cash flow. Travel into Namibia from all countries is currently banned due to the outbreak of the coronavirus that has forced the country into a 6-week lockdown to the curb the spread. Air Namibia acting CE Elia Erastus told local media that the temporary suspension of airline routes as a result of the coronavirus outbreak is one of the main contributors to the airline's cash flow troubles. He said April salaries for the airline's 700 employees were anticipated to be delayed by a week due to "critical cash flow problems". Employees at the airline have already been informed of the dire financial situation and were told to make arrangements with creditors, Erastus said. <br/>
WestJet says a further 3,000 of its workers will be laid off in early May as demand for flights craters amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. CE Ed Sims said the airline is currently seeing less than 5% the number of passengers it was seeing before the coronavirus pandemic hit. "The reality of this crisis continues to require WestJet to make mission-critical decisions to ensure the sustainability of our airline," Sims said. He went on to say that WestJet would use the federal govt's wage subsidy to retain workers on its payroll to ensure they remain "connected to the community." The airline rehired nearly 6,400 workers with the help of the federal govt's wage subsidy earlier this month. "We continue to work with our employee and labour groups on ways to maintain employment through the crisis," Sims said. <br/>