Administrators of stricken airline Virgin Australia have asked a court to give them a month-long exemption from being personally liable for A$1.2b in airplane leases. In documents filed with the federal court, the administrators have also requested orders enabling them to hold meetings electronically, streamline the administration and give them more time to respond to questions from creditors. The company, which owes about $4.8b to aircraft finance companies, bondholders and banks, went into administration Monday night after the federal govt turned down its request for a bailout. Under insolvency law, administrators take on personal responsibility for the debts run up by the companies they are in charge of during their tenure. <br/>
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Queensland premier Annastacia Palaszczuk and the head of Brisbane Airport have lambasted a push by Melbourne Airport to lure Virgin Australia to the Victorian capital once the collapsed airline emerges from administration. Virgin's board directors put the struggling airline into voluntary administration this week, sparking a wave of interest among private sector bidders and state govts seeking a role in its future. Palaszczuk described Melbourne Airport’s pitch to lure Virgin to the city as “absolutely ridiculous” and reiterated the state's determination to keep the carrier in Brisbane. “Virgin’s headquarters are here, they should stay here and we will fight to keep them here because we need it for our regional communities," she said. <br/>
Southwest Airlines may have to force cuts in pay and benefits to avoid involuntary furloughs if air travel doesn’t improve dramatically in the coming months, CE Gary Kelly told employees Thursday. Southwest has suspended more than half of its flights and plans to drop more in the coming weeks. Kelly said the airline will lose more than US$1b in revenue in April because of the COVID-19 downturn. “If things don’t change dramatically over the May-June-July time periods, we’ll have to prepare ourselves for a drastically smaller airline,” Kelly said. “Life can be very humbling and as I’ve said several times, we’ll have to be prepared for every possible scenario.” Southwest has been slower to cut flights than other airlines but is still operating at a fraction of its regular size. <br/>
IndiGo has reversed a decision to slash employee salaries after the Indian govt urged companies to avoid such practices, according to people with direct knowledge of the matter. The airline had proposed pay cuts of as much as 15% for most staff but will no longer go through with them, the people said. Top management will, however, take as much as a 25% reduction in pay, the people said. IndiGo’s move stands out at a time when airlines throughout the world are cutting operations, furloughing staff or even collapsing completely as the coronavirus pandemic brings the industry to its knees. Passenger numbers have slumped globally and carriers have slashed seat capacity on domestic and international routes. In India, airlines aren’t allowed to fly at all until at least May 3. <br/>
VietJet Air saw its operating profit in 2019 decline 14.3% to D4.98t (US$211m), down from the previous year’s profit figure of D5.8t. Consolidated revenue for the year ended Dec 31, 2019 declined 2.8% to D52t. Net profit meanwhile fell 20.9% to D4.22t. Cash and cash equivalents at Dec 31, 2019 amounted to D6.08t, lower than the D7.16t it had at the start of 2019. VietJet’s statistics show that the carrier’s passenger numbers in 2019 rose 9% to 25m. The number of routes operated during the year rose from 105 to 139, but its load factor fell 1.1 percentage point to 87%. It also stated that its cost per ASK in 2019 was 3.9 cents, and that excluding fuel, this was at 2.4 cents. <br/>
Canadian regional airline Jazz has agreed to purchase up to 13 freighter conversion kits for De Havilland Canada Dash 8-400 turboprops, enabling the airline to carry freight needed to combat coronavirus. The conversion kits will transform the 74-seat turboprops into a configuration called the Dash 8-400 Simplified Package Freighter, the companies said Thursday. Jazz, a subsidiary of Chorus Aviation, will be the first airline to operate Dash 8-400s in the newly approved configuration, they say. Jazz president Randolph deGooyer says the conversions will enable the airline “to redeploy aircraft while contributing to the collective fight against COVID-19”. The conversions require removing seats and seat-track covers from the aircrafts’ passenger cabin. Then, up to 17 cargo nets can be strapped to the seat tracks. <br/>
Transport business Stobart Group did not comment on reports that it had bid around E460,000 for a stake in Aer Lingus Regional carrier, Stobart Air. Reports Wednesday said that the UK transport group had paid up to E460,000 for 49% of Stobart Air. However, a Stobart Group spokesman refused to comment and said that the company had nothing to add last week’s statement, which confirmed the transport business was considering a bid among other options. Stobart Group was reported to have bought the stake from accountants EY in the UK, which is administrator of Connect Airways, a shareholder in the airline. The transport group was one of Connect’s investors. Stobart Air operates the Aer Lingus Regional service under contract to the larger airline. The deal, due for renewal by 2022, is seen as vital to Stobart Air’s future. <br/>