Ryanair warned it would make a E200m loss in Q1 as the low-cost carrier expected the number of passengers flying this year would be about half of its original target due to coronavirus. The Dublin-based airline said on Monday that it expected to carry 80m passengers during its current fiscal year, which started in April, down from its original goal of 154m passengers. But its shares jumped by almost 10% in a rising market as the airline set out plans to resume flights in July and said it was well-positioned to cut ticket prices over the next two years in an attempt to boost demand during the recovery it anticipates after the pandemic. Ryanair predicted a “smaller loss” in Q2 than in the first — or possibly to break even — but still expected to contend with coronavirus restrictions that have grounded most of its fleet. The airline said it would carry “no more than 50 per cent of its original” quarterly traffic target of 44.6m in the July-September period. “While we’re looking at a reasonable return to traffic volumes, we think it will be on the back of much lower air fares and yield. We’re really flying blind at the moment,” said CE Michael O’Leary. O’Leary said the company did not have “a bull’s notion” what 2021’s profit or loss would look like. While he expected a return to traffic volume “normality” in summer next year, he said it could be summer 2022 before fares returned to typical levels.<br/>
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Ryanair’s Austrian subsidiary Lauda faces an “existential crisis” and its main Vienna base appears likely to close at the end of May, group CE Michael O’Leary said Monday. Ryanair in recent weeks has warned that the Austrian airline, which it purchased in 2018, was underperforming and said its Vienna base would close unless unions accepted a new collective labour agreement. Ryanair has also said it was likely to replace 30 Airbus jets at Lauda, the only part of the Ryanair group not to fly Boeing 737s, with Boeing jets. O’Leary on Monday said Ryanair had cancelled eight A320s that were due for delivery to Lauda from leasing companies. “As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, Lauda is facing an existential crisis,” O’Leary said in a video presentation released alongside its full-year financial results, saying the only way it could survive was with a deep restructuring of the Vienna operation. “I think it is likely that the Vienna base will close at the end of May because we don’t see the union... agreeing to these reforms,” O’Leary said, adding that if they did accept them the airline would “thrive”.<br/>
Argentina’s discount airline Flybondi is planning to redouble its bet on domestic service once the toughest travel ban in the Americas is lifted. The company will focus on local flights as long as demand for international travel remains tenuous because of the coronavirus pandemic, said CCCO Mauricio Sana. Flights to Brazil, the hardest-hit country in Latin America, may not restart until May 2021. “The bet for regional growth in 2020 is cancelled,” Sana said. “As foreign travel reduces, much of tourism will turn to whatever domestic options come up. Local markets will recover faster.”<br/> Argentina’s government has banned all air travel until Sept. 1, one of the toughest restrictions in the world. Even before the pandemic, airlines operating in the country had been hard-hit by an economic slowdown, double-digit inflation and a 30% tax on foreign travel. <br/>
A group of flight attendant trainees on Monday started helping a city compile the paperwork for the government’s cash handout after the coronavirus outbreak caused staff shortages at the city hall and cancelled flights for the airline. The trainees from Peach Aviation, a low-cost carrier based at Kansai International Airport, are working with officials from Izumisano in Osaka Prefecture where the airport is located. They are checking that forms have been completed correctly by residents seeking the Y100,000 ($933) handout from the government, part of the emergency policy package passed to help residents deal with the pandemic.<br/>
Budget airline Norwegian Air looks likely to live on in a very slimmed-down form after completing a cut-price share sale and winning bondholders’ backing for a refinancing, after the coronavirus crisis compounded the carrier’s financial problems. Existing shareholders will see their stakes massively diluted by the rescue as it will increase the number of shares in the company to about 3.5b from just 163.6m. The airline’s shares initially plunged 51% to 2.51 crowns on Monday before recovering to trade at 4.0 crowns at 1046 GMT, still down 22% on the day. The debt conversion and share sale will allow Norwegian Air to tap government guarantees of up to 2.7 billion crowns, which hinge on a reduction in leverage, in addition to 300 million crowns it has already received.<br/>