EasyJet is to resume flights on a small number of routes from 15 June, with increased on-board safety measures including mandatory wearing of face masks, as it returns to the skies after grounding its fleet on 30 March. The airline will restart domestic routes in the UK and France initially, along with flights from four destinations elsewhere in Europe, where it says there is sufficient customer demand to support profitable flying. Further routes will be added in the following weeks, as and when passenger demand rises and lockdown measures ease further across Europe. The airline will resume flights from airports in the UK, including London Gatwick, Liverpool, Edinburgh and Belfast International. It will also begin flying again from locations in France, including Paris Charles de Gaulle, Nice and Lyon, as well as Geneva in Switzerland, Lisbon and Porto in Portugal, and Barcelona in Spain. One confirmed international route will be Gatwick to Nice on the French Riviera. The carrier will introduce enhanced cleaning and disinfection of its aircraft, make disinfectant wipes and hand sanitiser available on board, and require all passengers and cabin crew, as well as ground crew, to wear masks. There will be no food service onboard initially. EasyJet will, however, not block the middle seats in its planes despite saying last month it was considering such a move. It says the measures “have been implemented in consultation with aviation authorities” and in line with government and medical advice. <br/>
unaligned
The chairman and CE of EasyJet, together with two other directors, face being axed on Friday as EasyJet’s founder, Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou, seeks to oust them in a row over strategy. Haji-Ioannou is counting on major investors to abstain on a vote to remove the four directors in a special shareholder vote as he seeks to cancel a GBP4.5b order for more than 100 new aircraft which he believes puts the future of the airline in doubt. Haji-Ioannou wants to oust CE, Johan Lundgren, chairman, John Barton, finance chief, Andrew Findlay, and non-executive director Andreas Bierwirth because they have refused to cancel the aircraft order, placed with Airbus. Haji-Ioannou has offered GBP5m for a whistleblower to come forward with information that would scupper the Airbus deal and has called the four executives “scoundrels”. The airline has rejected “any insinuation that easyJet was involved in any impropriety”. Haji-Ioannou and his family control about 34% of easyJet’s shares. The resolutions to remove the directors requires support of more than 50%, meaning the easyJet board could lose if a third of shareholders abstain or vote against the resolution. However, no institutional investors with large stakes in the airline have publicly supported the resolutions, and influential shareholder advisory services ISS, Glass Lewis and Pirc have recommended voting against.<br/>
A year ago Emirates thought it had resolved its A380 problem by cutting back its final batch on order. Now the coronavirus has presented the Dubai-based carrier with a fresh headache around the superjumbo. With travel demand set to be subdued for years to come, the mammoth jet built by Airbus risks becoming a white elephant in a world where reduced demand for long-haul flights favours more modestly sized wide-bodies. Emirates will respond by retiring a chunk of its A380 fleet, people with knowledge of the plan have said. But with the Gulf airline alone in building its business around a double-decker model that won precious few orders elsewhere, options for offloading the planes are limited. Story looks at the choices facing the world’s biggest long-haul carrier.<br/>
Southwest will continue to limit bookings on its flights through at least July to give passengers space between seats, CEO Gary Kelly told shareholders on Thursday, mirroring a plan by competitor Delta. Social distancing on planes has become a topic of debate as airlines weigh safety measures to restore confidence in air travel that has collapsed during the coronavirus pandemic. “You won’t see full flights on Southwest at least through the end of July, and if we do have more demand for that flight, we’ll add additional flights to meet demand,” Kelly said at its annual shareholders’ meeting, which was held virtually. Delta also plans to continue limiting the number of passengers on each flight through at least July, people said. Southwest said on Tuesday it recorded positive bookings on a net basis so far this month as passenger reservations outpaced trip cancellations, helping the company slow its cash burn rate.<br/>
Tycoon Lucio Tan poured in at least P15.2b into Philippine Airlines, making it safe from immediate bankruptcy, according to PAL president Gilbert Santa Maria. Santa Maria said Thursday that one-third of the capital infusion, or about P5 billion, was deployed this year to keep the airline afloat during the Covid-19 pandemic, which has grounded air travel. “Without that liquidity, Philippine Airlines would probably not be here anymore, ” Santa Maria said. For now, PAL is “not in immediate danger of bankruptcy” but Santa Maria noted that prospects remained dim. He said the carrier was expected to exit the lockdown by the end of this month with losses of about US$1b while recovery for the airline industry could take a few years. “We are hanging on. We are waiting to fulfil our mission as the flag carrier,” Santa Maria said. He said PAL is also not considering any near-term job cuts after laying off 300 employees, or 5% of its workforce, last February. “At this point in time, it will be extremely inhuman of us to drop our employees on the streets while a pandemic is raging,” Santa Maria said.<br/>
Start-up carrier Zipair Tokyo has applied to launch with cargo-only flights between Tokyo Narita and Bangkok Suvarnabhumi airports from 3 June. The cargo-only service will be operated four times weekly “until the launch of passenger services”. Zipair will also codeshare with parent company Japan Airlines on cargo flights. “Based on the global impact of Covid-19, Zipair Tokyo’s launch of passenger flights has been temporarily postponed,” the company says. “As airlines continue to suspend flights, the need for air cargo services is in demand. As such, Zipair Tokyo announced the plan to launch cargo-only flights utilising the carrier’s Boeing 787-8 aircraft between the two countries,” it says. Zipair will announce the start of passenger services at a future date, it says. Zipair was intended as JAL’s low-cost carrier subsidiary, and previously indicated plans to operate a fleet of 10 Boeing 787s by 2024, transferred from the parent company. It had planned to launch in May, first with Bangkok flights, followed by a Seoul service from July.<br/>