Creditors of grounded airline Virgin Australia are to meet Thursday as speculation mounts that investors who poured almost $2b into high-risk debt issued by the company face steep losses. Estimates of how much the investors, who range from the Anglican church to giant US fund managers, are likely to receive if administrators Deloitte successfully sell Virgin Australia vary from as little as 7c in the dollar to as much as 65c in the dollar. Creditors of the airline are to meet via videolink at 11am. The meeting could have seen a challenge from employees to the role of partners at Deloitte as administrators, but this now appears unlikely after unions threw their support behind the accounting firm. Deloitte said no offer to buy the airline would be put before creditors. Administrator Vaughan Strawbridge has previously said that more than 10 parties are interested in tipping money in to get Virgin Australia recapitalised. Potential buyers are reported to include BGH Capital, a private equity firm run by Ben Gray and backed by Singapore sovereign fund Temasek, WA conglomerate Wesfarmers and US airline investor Indigo Partners. Last week Strawbridge told the federal court Virgin Australia had about 12,000 creditors, including banks, aircraft financiers, landlords and its 9,000 employees.<br/>
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On the tarmac at Perth Airport last week, unusual images emerged showing aircraft being blockaded by bulldozers, trucks and portable staircases, which were used to prevent the jets from taking off. Officials from Perth Airport said they were taking possession of the aircraft, which belonged to Virgin Australia, the country's second-largest carrier after Qantas. The airport said Virgin owed it A$16mfor use of the airfield and terminal. While other airports have been less confrontational, this bizarre stand-off reflected growing anxieties about the future of Virgin. The airline, which is about 20% owned by Singapore Airlines, has gone into administration after Canberra refused its demand for a A$1.4b lifeline to help it through the Covid-19 crisis, which has forced the company to ground its international fleet and suspend almost all of its domestic flights. The carrier reportedly owes about A$6.8b to creditors. According to Tony Webber, CE of aviation analysis firm Airline Intelligence and Research, Australia's domestic market generates A$1b in annual profit, which should be enough to sustain two well-run airlines. But he said new entrants have historically found it hard to compete with Qantas, which has a dominant position and prime airport locations.<br/>
Norwegian has warned that nearly all of its planes could be grounded until 2021 as it fights for survival amid the coronavirus crisis. The carrier is also considering how to reinvent itself to remain profitable - with its much vaunted long-haul services likely to face the chop. The low-cost carrier, which has furloughed 80% of its staff and grounded all but seven of its planes, is trying to convince shareholders to accept a GBP230m state bailout. However, it predicts that operations may not resume in earnest until summer 2021, with the “New Norwergian” expected to be a streamlined version of its former self. To that end, its fleet could be cut by around 30%, it says, and its sole focus may be profitable short-haul routes. Affected passengers due to travel can rebook free of charge (although options are extremely limited) or apply for a refund or voucher online. However, the airline warns: “Due to the high number of requests we are dealing with, unfortunately your claim will take longer than normal to process.” Currently, just seven of Norwegian’s 147 jets are in service. All are operating subsidised domestic flights or carrying cargo instead of passengers. <br/>
Bondholders in Norwegian Air are set to vote on Thursday on the airline's debt-to-equity plan, the first major test of the budget carrier's rescue efforts amid the coronavirus outbreak. The carrier may run out of cash by mid-May unless its plan, involving a swap of up to $1.2b worth of debt into equity and hands over most of the ownership to the firm's lessors and bondholders, is approved by creditors and shareholders. If successful, the plan would allow Norwegian to tap government guarantees of up to 2.7b crowns ($260m) which hinges on a reduction its ratio of debt to equity, on top of 300m crowns it has already received.<br/>
Struggling Mexican airline Interjet was suspended on Wednesday from the clearing house membership of the IATA for failing to keep up with payments. The news stirred renewed concern about the future of the privately-owned carrier, which has rejected over the past few months a string of media reports suggesting that it has been laboring to meet financial obligations. In a letter dated Wednesday, the Airlines Clearing House said the membership of ABC Aerolineas, which operates under the name Interjet, was suspended with "immediate effect" due to the "non-payment of a clearance balance". Interjet said it had taken the decision to opt out of the IATA clearing house temporarily but aimed to rejoin the body once it had resolved an outstanding payment issue with a service provider.<br/>
AirAsia Group will stop taking deliveries of Airbus jets this year and review its remaining orders as the coronavirus crisis heaps pressure on the Malaysian carrier. The comment from Asia's largest budget airline on Wednesday is the latest sign of pandemic-induced havoc, further denting growth in South East Asian jetliner demand that was already feeling the effects of overcapacity. After years of expansion, AirAsia expects to end 2020 with 242 aircraft in its fleet, down one from last year, Executive Chairman Kamarudin Meranun said. The carrier is one of Airbus's largest customers, with orders for 349 A321neo jets and 13 A320neo planes yet to be delivered to the main airline. They would be worth about $46b at today's list prices, though in practice airlines win discounts above 50% for such large orders, market sources say. AirAsia has ordered a total of more than 660 Airbus jets since switching from a small Boeing fleet more than 15 years ago. But in a rare move, industry sources have told Airfinance Journal and Reuters that Airbus recently put six planes up for auction after giving up on AirAsia taking delivery. The delivery freeze reflects mass groundings of AirAsia jets because of quarantines and travel restrictions, as well as the impact of unfavourable fuel hedges, analysts said.<br/>
Harrison Ford was piloting a plane that wrongly crossed a runway where another plane was landing, and federal authorities are investigating, officials and a representative for the actor said Wednesday. Ford was at the controls of a small plane Friday at Hawthorne Airport in the Los Angeles area when, according to a statement released by Ford's publicist, he crossed the runway after mishearing an instruction from air traffic control. “He immediately acknowledged the mistake and apologized to ATC for the error,” according to the statement from publicist Ina Treciokas. ”No one was injured and there was never any danger of a collision.”<br/>