The world's largest airliner, the Airbus A380, took a step closer to the aviation archives Wednesday as Air France said it would permanently axe its grounded fleet and sources said Emirates was in talks to reduce remaining deliveries. The superjumbo is close to the end of its production run after demand switched to smaller jets, and airlines including Air France have been idling the double-decker temporarily because of the coronavirus crisis. Air France announced a fresh E500m writedown as it permanently retires its nine jets, just over a decade after becoming the first European airline to operate them. Airbus last year announced plans to stop producing A380s in 2021 due to poor sales. It has nine left to build including eight for Emirates and one for Japan's ANA. Emirates no longer wants to take all eight A380s due to the pandemic and is in talks with Airbus, industry sources said. Both Emirates and Airbus said they were in regular dialogue with each other, declining further comment. Emirates has 50 A350s on order, the price of which could become a bargaining chip in discussions, one added. Emirates is the biggest A380 operator with 115 and has said it expects to keep some into the 2030s.<br/>
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Rolls-Royce is to cut 9,000 jobs, almost a fifth of its workforce, as the coronavirus crisis takes its toll on the aviation industry. The jet engine manufacturer said it was targeting GBP1.3b in annual cost savings to weather the protracted downturn caused by the Covid-19 pandemic that has grounded much of the world’s airlines. Head count cuts will account for about half the savings target. Derby-based Rolls-Royce, which employs 52,000 staff globally, said the job losses would be felt worst in its civil aerospace business, with about 8,000 of the 9,000 roles being made redundant coming from that division. The company also makes fighter jet and ship engines as well as reactors for nuclear submarines, but it said there would be no job losses at its defence business. Rolls-Royce’s CE Warren East indicated that the UK would be heavily affected. The group’s civil aerospace division employs almost 16,000 people in the UK. He said: “It’s fair to say that of our civil aerospace business, approximately two-thirds of the total employees are in the UK at the moment and that’s probably a good first proxy.” In total, Rolls-Royce employs 23,700 staff in the UK, where nine of its approximately 17 main manufacturing locations are based. <br/>
Travel website Kayak is seeing more demand for car rentals than air travel from customers looking to avoid crowds and stay closer to home as US states reopen, CEO Steve Hafner said Wednesday. For those booking flights, Kayak is seeing a preference for cities like Phoenix and Denver over hotspots such as Las Vegas and New York, and for beach destinations like Hawaii and Miami. "We started Kayak as a flight search engine. I never would have guessed that almost 20 years later, we have cars on our home page." Trust analyst Naved Khan forecast bookings for online travel agencies would fall about 60% in third quarter, compared with a more than 80% plunge in the second quarter. Kayak is also looking at ways to show safety measures used by airlines in its search results. "If it's helpful to the consumer to know that American Airlines has one policy with regard to middle seats and Delta another, then we want to show that in the Kayak display," Hafner said.<br/>
Federal regulators are seeking a $5.9m penalty against an Atlanta aviation company that they say operated illegal cargo flights that were “careless or reckless” and posed a safety risk. The FAA said Wednesday that Humes McCoy Aviation lacked a commercial operating certificate and used pilots who had not passed required tests. The FAA said the company also didn't have approved programs for pilot training and handling hazardous materials. David M. McDonald, an attorney for Humes McCoy, said the company does not own any aircraft and merely acted as a broker between cargo customers and licensed air carriers. “It is our position that no violations took place,” he said. The FAA said Humes McCoy used small planes to operate 270 illegal flights in North Carolina, South Carolina and Iowa from 2017 through 2019. The alleged violations are civil, not criminal.<br/>
EU regulators called on passengers to wear face masks, observe physical distancing and frequently wash their hands in new guidelines for air travel in the age of Covid-19. Significant changes will also be needed for airlines and airports, EU aviation and health agencies said Wednesday. Carriers and airport operators must ensure that passengers keep a distance of 1.5m from each other when feasible. When that isn’t possible, extra measures such as hand washing and “respiratory etiquette” must be implemented. The joint guidelines of the European Union Aviation Safety Agency and the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control represent an effort to map out rules for safe flying after a worldwide collapse in air travel because of the coronavirus pandemic. The protocol offers a blueprint from the time passengers arrive to catch a flight to when they leave the airport at their destination, said Patrick Ky, executive director of the aviation regulator. “This is the start, rather than the end, of a process to make air travel as safe as possible from the health perspective, in addition to the technical safety which has until now been the main focus of EASA,” Ky said.<br/>
India’s decision to resume domestic flights from May 25 was a bolt out of the blue for most of the country’s aviation companies. Top executives at three Indian airlines said they learned about the move when the aviation minister tweeted it. The executives asked not to be identified citing rules on speaking to the media. Airline shares surged. Most airlines have suspended ticket sales at least until June 1 and were staring at a longer stint on the ground, until the minister announced the government’s plan to reopen the skies. Many are puzzled as the lifting coincides with India emerging as a nation where coronavirus infections are spreading at the fastest pace in Asia. While airlines, strapped for cash due to the shutdown, were waiting for a decision, the short notice makes it harder for them to prepare for operations, deploy staff, arrange for protective gear, and ensure the virus stays away from flights, the people said. Technical teams of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation, the industry regulator, will meet airlines on Thursday to finalize a curtailed schedule “as quickly as possible,” before tickets go on sale, Arun Kumar, the head of the DGCA, said in a text message.<br/>
Greece will allow direct international flights to Athens starting June 15, with other tourist destinations to follow July 1, PM Kyriakos Mitsotakis said, as he announced financial support measures to revive the country’s crucial tourism sector. Officials didn’t specify which nation’s tourists would be permitted, only that they would be from countries with low infection rates as seasonal hotels reopen. “As we won the health fight, so we will win the war for the economy,” the Greek premier said in a nationally televised address. He urged the same discipline, flexibility and solidarity that won “global admiration” for the country” during the virus emergency, he said, and the priority “is to protect jobs.”<br/>