Emirates Airline Sunday said the company has not made any announcement to reduce a large number of its work force. The comment was in response to a Bloomberg report that said the Emirates Group is considering plans to cut about 30,000 jobs as the operator of the world’s largest long-haul carrier seeks to reduce costs after the coronavirus pandemic grounded air travel. An Emirates spokesperson said no such decision has been taken. “No announcement has been made regarding mass redundancies at the airline. Any such decision will be communicated in an appropriate fashion,” said the Emirates spokesperson. The spokesperson said: “Like any responsible business would do, our executive team has directed all departments to conduct a thorough review of costs and resourcing against business projections, even as we prepare for gradual service resumption. As our Chairman has said, conserving cash, safeguarding our business, and preserving as much of our skilled workforce as possible, remain our top priorities through this period.” <br/>
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Running an airline with no money and few planes in the air has been “gruelling”, the Virgin Australia administrator Vaughan Strawbridge admits. Strawbridge and three other partners at big four accounting firm Deloitte were appointed as administrators by the airline’s board on the afternoon of 20 April, after the failure that morning of the group’s latest, and final, attempt to get a bailout from the federal government. Since then, he has been dealing with nervous creditors owed a staggering A$6.8b, anxious union leaders keen to preserve the jobs of as many of the airline’s 10,000 workers as possible, and a swarm of potential buyers, while at the same time keeping a bare-bones service in the air. To do this, Strawbridge and the other administrators have also had to convince the federal court judge John Middleton to make extraordinary orders on Friday that allow them to avoid personal liability for the vast bulk of debts the airline continues to incur on their watch. They’ve also taken legal action in the US to protect the airline’s assets from creditors there. Story has details.<br/>
Virgin Australia Holdings' administrators have short-listed potential buyers BGH Capital, Bain Capital, Indigo Partners and Cyrus Capital Partners, a source with knowledge of the matter said on Monday. The airline’s administrators expected to receive as many as eight non-binding indicative offers from potential buyers before a submission deadline Friday. Binding offers for the airline are due on June 12. The company entered voluntary administration last month owing creditors nearly A$7b, making it the biggest Asia-Pacific casualty of the coronavirus crisis hitting the global aviation industry. The strong interest in Virgin Australia at a time when the world aviation market is largely grounded shows the long-time attractiveness of the Australian domestic market, a duopoly between Qantas and Virgin. The administrators at Deloitte said they had shortlisted a small number of well-funded parties with strong aviation credentials but declined to name them. Brookfield on Sunday told the administrators it would exit the process if more than two bidders were shortlisted because it would be unworkable given the tight timeframe, a source with knowledge of the matter said. Brookfield declined to comment.<br/>
A court in Istanbul has accepted an indictment against four pilots, an airline company official and two flight attendants accused of helping former Nissan chairman Carlos Ghosn escape from Japan to Lebanon via Turkey, and set a trial date for July 3. Prosecutors are seeking up to eight years in prison each for the four pilots and the airline official, on charges of illegally smuggling a migrant, according to the indictment, cited by the state-run Anadolu Agency. The two flight attendants face a one-year prison term each if convicted of not reporting a crime. Ghosn, who was arrested over financial misconduct allegations in Tokyo in 2018, skipped bail while awaiting trial in Japan late last year. He flew to Istanbul and was then transferred onto another plane bound for Beirut, where he arrived on December 30. The Turkish airline company MNG Jet said in January that two of its planes were used illegally in Ghosn’s escape, first flying him from Osaka, Japan, to Istanbul, and then on to Beirut. The company said its employee had admitted to falsifying flight records so that Ghosn’s name did not appear on them. The four pilots and the two flight attendants have denied involvement in the plans to smuggle Ghosn. They also denied knowing that the former Nissan chief was aboard the flights, DHA reported.<br/>
Sharjah-based Air Arabia saw Q1profit fall 45%, blaming the coronavirus pandemic that has crushed travel demand. The airline made Dh71m in the three months to March 31, compared to Dh128m dirhams a year earlier. Revenue fell 12% to Dh901m and quarterly passenger traffic declined 14% to 2.4m. The airline recorded a strong start to the year but the coronavirus outbreak impacted overall performance in the first three months of the year, Chairman Sheikh Abdullah Bin Mohamed al-Thani said. Air Arabia also operates hubs in Ras Al Khaimah and in Egypt and Morocco. It laid off dozens of employees in the first quarter, blaming the impact of the virus, and warned the pending launch of its joint venture airline with Etihad Airways in Abu Dhabi was dependent on market conditions.<br/>
The Philippines’ Cebu Air Inc said Monday it would defer previously planned aircraft capital expenditure and was in talks with the government for fiscal support as the coronavirus pandemic decimates demand for travel. Last year, the country’s largest budget carrier finalised the purchase of about 30 Airbus aircraft worth $6.8b at list prices as it sought larger, fuel-efficient jets to help it expand. However, those plans have been upended by the unprecedented crisis brought on by the pandemic, as strict travel restrictions imposed globally have left the airline industry largely grounded. Cebu said it was reviewing its long-term fleet plan and had begun discussion with suppliers “to establish flexibility to adapt to current events”.<br/>