A plane carrying aid supplies for use in the fight against the coronavirus crashed in Somalia on Monday, killing all six people on board, the Somali transport minister said. He declined to speculate on the cause of the crash, but a former defence minister said he had spoken to a witness at the airfield who said it appeared to have been shot down. Somalia’s al Qaeda-linked insurgency al Shabaab has a presence in the area where the plane came down, although the town of Bardale, in the southern Bay region, and its airfield is secured by Somali forces and Ethiopian troops. Six people — the pilot, copilot, flight engineer and a trainee pilot, as well as two people working for the airline — were onboard, Transport Minister Mohamed Salad said. Salad said he was sending a unit to investigate, who will arrive on Tuesday, and welcomed international assistance. State-run Somalia News Agency said the plane belonged to African Express Airways and was ferrying supplies for use in the fight against the coronavirus.<br/>
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Frontier Airlines said it’s going to charge extra for passengers who want to guarantee a spot next to an unoccupied middle seat in the age of social distancing. The carrier aims to generate revenue on the empty seats, charging from $39 to $89 depending on the route. It will have 18 “More Room” assignments available on each flight from Friday through Aug. 31, a spokeswoman said Monday. The new product complements a face-covering mandate Frontier is imposing for passengers starting Friday, along with a “health requirement” customers must accept before they can check in for a flight. As part of that new system, Frontier travellers must check their temperature, attest that neither they nor anyone in their household has exhibited Covid-19 related symptoms for 14 days and wash their hands or use sanitizer before boarding a flight on Frontier. Large carriers say they’ve begun blocking many middle seats to promote greater distance among passengers. The airlines don’t guarantee a middle seat will be unoccupied and they generally may assign them as needed. “We are well aware that all airlines, Frontier included, are making efforts to allow people to spread out,” the Frontier spokeswoman said. <br/>
Norwegian Air will proceed with its rescue plan and unlock government aid after winning support from shareholders, bondholders and aircraft lessors for a 10b kroner (GBP770m) debt-for-equity swap. After a weekend of frantic talks, the airline’s shareholders gathered at an emergency meeting in Oslo on Monday and voted 95% in favour of all proposals, including a 400m kroner share issue – even though the plan effectively wipes them out. The plan will hand majority ownership to the airline’s creditors – bondholders and lessors – and leave shareholders with 5.2% of the company but there was no alternative, Norwegian’s CE, Jacob Schram, said. Without the rescue plan, “it will be game over”, he had warned ahead of the shareholder meeting. “This has been perhaps the most exciting financial thriller Norway has ever seen,” he said after the meeting. The plan will unlock a further 2.7b kroner in state aid to help steer the airline through the coronavirus crisis, on top of 300m kroner the airline has already received. Norway’s government made the package dependent on Norwegian making itself solvent again by wiping out its debt. <br/>
Aer Lingus is to conduct a review after pictures emerged of an almost full flight with no apparent evidence of social distancing measures. The airline said any process changes required would be implemented as a “matter of urgency”. The move came as pictures were shared from inside the cabin of a Belfast-London Heathrow flight on Monday, showing row after row filled with passengers. Passenger Sean Mallon said there was “no social distancing whatsoever”. “I would say there was about 95% of the seats taken on the flight,” he said. Aer Lingus said: “In light of the unexpectedly high loads on the Belfast-London Heathrow service this morning and the level of demand for the route, Aer Lingus is reviewing its processes and procedures applicable to the operation of this service. “The safety and security of Aer Lingus’s customers and crew is our top priority and any process changes that are identified as being required will be implemented as a matter of urgency.” <br/>
Brazil’s largest airline Gol Linhas Aereas Inteligentes said Monday it has enough cash to keep the airline afloat until the end of the year and still have significant reserves leftover, despite the coronavirus crisis. Still, the airline was bleeding money before the outbreak grounded almost all air traffic around the world. In Q1, Gol posted a loss of 2.3b reais ($419m), almost entirely due to the depreciation of the Brazilian currency. Coronavirus barely factored in the steep loss, Gol said. A year ago, the airline posted a loss of 32m reais. The results are unaudited, Gol said, because its independent accountants requested two more weeks to finish their review. What the accountants may have to say, however, is significant in the middle of this crisis. Gol said it hopes to reduce its daily cash burn rate to 7m reais in H2 2020. If it accomplishes this rate, it said it would have 2.6b reais in cash at the end of 2020.<br/>