The US Treasury said it has paid out another $9.5b in funds to the aviation industry under a program designed to shore up carriers reeling from the coronavirus pandemic. Meanwhile, an application form was released on Saturday for loans destined for “businesses critical to maintaining national security,” Treasury said. Total disbursements so far under the CARES Act have reached to $12.4b to 93 air carriers, including major airlines and smaller passenger carriers, Treasury said. Additional funds will be paid out on a rolling basis. The funds under the Payroll Support Program must be used for employee wages, salaries and benefits. Treasury announced certain details of the program for cargo air carriers and contractors, as determined by Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin. Cargo carriers receiving $50m or less of payroll support, and contractors getting $37.5m or less, will not be required to provide financial instruments as compensation for the assistance. The majority of cargo air carriers and contractors seek less than $10m.<br/>
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As travellers stay home because of the coronavirus pandemic and revenue tumbles, American and other US carriers are pivoting to freight. Demand for goods has decreased more slowly than travel demand, and some items, such as personal protective equipment, are newly critical. In normal times passenger planes move about 55% of the world’s cargo, but with so few planes flying, space is precious, and rates are rocketing. Air Canada, Lufthansa and Icelandair all have reconfigured a few planes to carry cargo in the main cabin, and on Thursday the FAA cleared Delta as the first US carrier to transport goods in the cabin. With airlines taking government funds, issuing fresh shares and drawing down billions in loans, every dollar helps. “Cargo remains somewhat robust and a good opportunity for them to generate some revenue when the core passenger side has been suffering,” said Citi analyst Stephen Trent. “If you have to run those flights anyway, best to run them with the belly full.” Last month American flew its first cargo-only flight in 36 years. The company generated $216m from cargo in Q42019, or 1.9% of total sales. As passenger revenue falls, analysts expect that percentage to rise to 2.1% in Q1 2020 and 3% in Q2. Last week American flew 46 cargo-only routes; it plans to “almost double” that number by May 7. Commercial rates for air cargo have soared. Goods moving on certain routes from China to the US now range from $13 to $19 per kilo, said Brian Bourke from freight forwarder Seko Logistics. A year ago the cost was between $3 and $6. <br/>
Hundreds of airliners idled by the coronavirus pandemic’s impact on the travel industry and other circumstances crowd a southern Arizona airfield where workers are trying to make room for even more aircraft that may not take to the skies again soon. Pinal Airpark just off Interstate 10 between Casa Grande and Tucson, as of last week was providing storage space for approximately 270 aircraft, and manager Jim Petty said most of them were there because of the pandemic. About 402km away in Arizona, officials at Kingman Municipal Airport hopes to also attract some of the plane-storage business as airlines ground more aircraft and move others to longer-term storage locations. The region’s warm, dry climate is considered ideal for mothballing aircraft. Airpark can probably accommodate an additional 100 planes, depending on how big they are, said Jim Petty, Pinal County’s airport economic development director. “The balloon isn’t ready to pop yet, but it’s getting pretty big,” Petty said. “We can still push it. Until every square inch is used, it’s not full.” Airlines parking planes at Pinal Airpark include Delta, Air Canada and JetBlue which also has 20 planes parked at nearby Marana Regional Airport. The president of Jet Yard, one of two aircraft storage and maintenance companies that operate at Pinal Airpark, said he expects it to get “a hell of a lot busier” in coming months.<br/>
It's clear flying will be different after coronavirus, and while some airlines are discussing the removal of middle seats to maintain social distancing, one airplane interiors company has come up with concepts for adapting economy class cabins. Italian designers Aviointeriors, the company behind the standing airplane seat, has unveiled two new seat designs aimed at keeping a safe distance between passengers "in accordance with the new requirements" without compromising too much space onboard." The "Janus" seat has "two faces" and is made of "easy cleaning" and "safe hygienization materials." This is essentially a row of three with the passenger seated in the middle seat facing the opposite direction to those on the aisle and window seat, to ensure "maximum isolation between passengers seated next to each other." In addition, each seat is fixed with a three-sided shield "made of transparent material," to prevent "breath propagation" between those in adjacent seats. While the "Janus" seat would require existing cabins to be overhauled, "Glassafe," Aviointeriors second coronavirus flying proposal can be fitted onto most standard airplane seats. However, this doesn't adhere to current social distancing guidelines, which require us to maintain a distance of approximately two metres from others. But the shield is intended to impose a safe barrier between passengers who are sat close to each other, creating an "isolated volume around the passenger" to "reduce the probability of contamination by viruses."<br/>
Boeing is walking away from its proposed $4.2b combination with Embraer’s commercial-aircraft business, ending years of talks, as the planemakers brace for a far smaller jetliner market after the coronavirus pandemic. The deal’s collapse turns two long-time business partners into competitors and strengthens Airbus’s long-term advantage in the lucrative market for single-aisle planes. The partnership with Brazil’s Embraer would have armed the US aerospace giant with smaller jets to compete against a new offering from Airbus. Boeing is abandoning the proposed tie-up weeks after CEO Dave Calhoun warned employees that the company would need to adjust to a “new reality” as travel demand vanishes because of the virus and airlines prepare for a slow recovery. Embraer’s market value has tumbled to less than $1.1b, about a quarter of what Boeing had been poised to pay for the Brazilian company’s commercial plane operations alone. Continued negotiation “is not going to resolve the outstanding issues,” Marc Allen, Boeing’s president of Embraer Partnership & Group Operations, said in a statement Saturday. “It is deeply disappointing.” Embraer responded that Boeing “wrongfully terminated” the agreement and that it plans to seek all remedies against Boeing for damages.<br/>
Two influential proxy advisers are recommending Boeing shareholders vote against key board members to protest the plane maker’s handling of the 737 MAX debacle. Ahead of Boeing’s annual shareholder meeting Monday, one of the proxy firms, Glass Lewis, has recommended voting against Chairman Larry Kellner, a former airline executive who previously oversaw the board’s audit committee. “We believe the audit committee failed to mitigate the risk posed by management’s decisions and should be held accountable for its oversight,” Glass Lewis wrote. Institutional Shareholder Services, or ISS, recommended shareholders vote against four longtime board members who served during the 737 MAX’s development and rollout, including Edmund Giambastiani Jr., a retired Navy admiral who heads a safety committee Boeing formed in the wake of the twin MAX crashes. Board members either didn’t respond to requests for comment or declined to comment. A Boeing spokesman said the company continues to learn from the MAX accidents and is taking extensive actions to rebuild trust. ISS also recommended voting against directors Arthur Collins Jr., Susan Schwab and Ronald Williams. ISS said Boeing’s “board can neither disclaim responsibility for the priorities that were set nor escape accountability by pleading ignorance of problems that were a foreseeable result of those priorities.”<br/>
Airbus chief Guillaume Faury warned employees that the planemaker is “bleeding cash” and needs to quickly cut costs to adapt to a radically shrinking aerospace industry. With airline customers fighting to survive and unable to accept new aircraft, Airbus is juggling its delivery schedules while reassessing its long-term outlook for the aerospace industry, Faury told staff in a letter sent Friday. A plan to slash production by one-third announced earlier this month may not reflect the worst-case scenario, he said. “We’re bleeding cash at an unprecedented speed, which may threaten the very existence of our company,” Faury wrote. “We must now act urgently to reduce our cash-out, restore our financial balance and, ultimately, to regain control of our destiny.” Airbus declined to comment on its internal communications.<br/>
Indonesia has banned commercial flying from 24 April until 1 June, in a bid to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. The ban on commercial flying was part of a larger travel ban imposed by the Indonesian government on Indonesians seeking to travel back to their hometowns to mark the end of the Islamic fasting month of Ramadan, which falls on 24 May. The country’s director general for civil aviation, Novie Riyanto, was quoted in a 23 April CNBC Indonesia report as saying that the ban would apply to both scheduled and charter flights operating to domestic and international destinations. He adds that exceptions would only apply to cargo, medical, and repatriation flights, as well as flights carrying state leaders and their representatives, and those of international organisations. Indonesia’s air navigation service will continue to operate, and airports will handle flights that remain in service.<br/>
Passengers should be tested for coronavirus 48 hours before they board a flight once the lockdown is lifted, the Gatwick Airport boss has said. Gatwick CE Stewart Wingate hopes "health passports" which prove travellers are not infected with the virus will help jump-start the air industry. He has also suggested all passengers wear face masks during flights. Wingate said: "Whether these tests should be carried out in the airports or whether they would be better carried out in the communities are things that should be debated. For example, would it be better for a passenger to arrive at an airport with some sort of certification that said 'I have been checked over the last 48 hours and I am Covid-free?'” The government is currently looking at ways social distancing could be maintained when air travel resumes. Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said Friday ministers were constantly reviewing rules on allowing passengers to enter the country without screenings. <br/>
Amsterdam Airport Schiphol and its partners are set to start a trial of sustainable aircraft taxiing. Under this trial, a special tow vehicle called ‘taxibot’ will be used to bring the aircraft to the runway. With this, the aircraft engine will be turned off. The trial is carried out along with Air Traffic Control the Netherlands, the Ministerie van Infrastructuur en Waterstaat (Ministry of Infrastructure and the Environment) Corendon Dutch Airlines, KLM, Transavia, easyJet, dnata and KLM Ground Services. The initial tests will tow an empty Corendon aircraft to different runways. Based on the success of the test, the trial will be extended to operational aircraft in the next phase. The vehicle features a hybrid combination of electric and diesel engines, enabling it to use 95% less fuel compared to the fuel used by aircraft engines in the taxiing phase. With this trial, Schiphol aims to achieve total fuel consumption savings of 50% to 85% during taxiing as the engines have to warm-up before take-off.<br/>