Qantas warned public appetite to fly overseas could take years to return as the airline borrowed yet more funds to weather aviation’s biggest-ever crisis. The carrier said Tuesday it raised an additional A$550m to ride out a near-halt in passenger revenue because of the coronavirus. Qantas shares climbed after the airline said it now has enough liquidity to withstand current conditions until December 2021. “It will be some time before total demand reaches pre-crisis levels,” CEO Alan Joyce said. “With the possible exception of New Zealand, international travel demand could take years to return to what it was.” With a drawn-out recovery looming, Joyce said Qantas’s fleet, routes and expenditure will all have to reviewed. “We need to think about what the Qantas Group should look like on the other side of this crisis in order to succeed,” he said. Qantas in March furloughed most of its 30,000-strong workforce and scrapped virtually all international flights. On Tuesday, it extended international flight cancellations until the end of July.<br/>
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Alan Joyce says Qantas will have to become a different airline after the coronavirus pandemic and will consider shrinking its fleet and network in line with demand during a years-long recovery from the health crisis. Qantas’ CE Tuesday confirmed it had put an order for new aircraft to operate its much-hyped non-stop "Project Sunrise" flights to New York and London on ice and will also consider offloading some of its 12 Airbus A380 super-jumbos. Joyce said international travel demand will take years to recover, however he did see "light at the end of the tunnel" with the potential for domestic restrictions to soon ease and a possible trans-Tasman "bubble" to open up travel to New Zealand. However with any recovery expected to be gradual - and slowed by a likely global recession - Joyce said Qantas was reconsidering its fleet, where it flies and how it spends it cash. "The Qantas of 2021 and 2022 will not be the Qantas of 2019," he said following a market update on the company's pandemic response. "We’re looking at the scope and scale of our businesses going forward."<br/>
BA bosses have been attacked by MPs after they refused to attend a grilling about shock plans to sack up to 12,000 of the company's staff. Willie Walsh, CE of BA's parent firm IAG, told the Transport Select Committee that he could not make it to a hearing on Wednesday because of a board meeting. He will face questions at a special separate session on Monday, May 11. It comes after the airline announced plans to sack up to a quarter of its workforce and warned it could abandon Gatwick Airport due to an unprecedented slump in foreign travel. Tory MP Huw Merriman, chairman of the committee, said: “It seems remarkable that British Airways cannot find anyone with sufficient responsibility to join others from the aviation sector for our select committee.” It is understood that Walsh offered a number of alternative dates but was unable to attend the Wednesday hearing because the board is due to discuss IAG’s first quarter results. Merriman said: “With so many questions, this would be an ideal platform for BA to set out its challenges, to reassure and seek parliamentary support should it need more assistance from the UK authorities."<br/>